


Reconnection

by AniPendragon



Category: Hot Wheels: Battle Force Five
Genre: Alternate Take on Post Sol Survivor, Anxiety, Assumed Dead At One Point, Blood and Injury, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Continuation of series, Discussion of mental illness, End of the war, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Fluff, For some couples, Getting Together, Grimian Dies, Happy Ending, Humour, Jack Wheeler is an Asshole, Light Angst, Listen It All Ends Fine I Promise, Listen None of the Mains Die But We Think They Do At Some Point, M/M, Minor Unimportant Deaths, OC/Canon Relationships, Original Characters - Freeform, Post-Canon, RELATIONSHIP ANGST IS GO, Reconciliation, Redemption, Rewrite of the End of Season Two, Scary Things At Times, Season 3 and Onward, Slow Burn, Smut, Suspected Traitor, Suspicious Happenings, Switching Sides, Temporary Break Up, There's a Version of Better Off Red That's Spooky, Trans Characters, Trans Man Spinner Cortez, Violence, ancient ones, from silly to serious, long fic, non-binary characters, past relationship, some blood, what if
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2018-11-18 06:36:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11285703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniPendragon/pseuds/AniPendragon
Summary: After the events ofSol Survivor, the BF5 and Sage are convinced the war will never end and that Sage will be alone forever. However, when a strange beacon from her homeworld brings good news, all of that changes. With allies both new and old, new members of the Battle Force 5, and a new perspective on the multiverse and the war they are caught in, Battle Force 5 sets out to change their fates, save the multiverse, and allow Sage and her lover, Corona, to return to the world in which they belong.But Krytus is not the only one they have to worry about, and as the secrets of the multiverse begin to reveal themselves, Battle Force 5 learns that their war is far from over, and that the true fight has barely begun.





	1. The Signal

**Author's Note:**

> So in my quest to make everyone in BF5 gay, I stumbled upon Sage as well. So let's give her a girlfriend, shall we?

Wakefulness came far too early, the wake-up call alarm going off sometimes just after six in the morning. Vert groaned and tried to pull himself out of bed, only to find that Zoom was draped half on top of him. He tried nudging Zoom out of the way. Zoom whined and curled tighter against him, wrapping an arm around his chest and burrowing his face in the crook of Vert’s neck.

Vert let his head fall back on the pillows.

“Zoom, come on, Sage has a mission for us,” said Vert.

“No, too early,” whined Zoom, but he pulled himself upright anyway. Vert leaned up and pecked him on the cheek before swinging out of the bed.

“Let’s see what she wants,” said Vert. The two got dressed and headed down into the Hub, rubbing at their eyes and picking up the rest of the team as they went. They’d all managed to stuff themselves in their uniforms, despite the early hour. For once, even Tezz looked caught off guard and exhausted, and he wobbled when the elevator stopped. AJ grabbed his shoulder and said something about coffee before scooting off into the Hub to make some.

Tezz only hummed and rubbed at his eyes, looking like he’d walked out of hell or a bad dream. Vert had to wonder how much sleep the guy had actually managed to get last night. He knew Tezz had a habit of staying up late, but this was kind of ridiculous.

“Sage, what’s with the early morning wake-up call?” asked Vert, rubbing at one of his eyes. Zoom stretched next to him, yawning loudly.

“Please tell me we’re not going back to Vandal,” said Agura. “I don’t think I can handle another ocean-mobi incident.”

Stanford shuddered, hugging himself from where he stood next to Sherman. “If we go to Vandal, I’m staying here. Where it’s _safe_ ,” said Stanford. Sherman patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.

“You are going to my home world,” said Sage. She held out a battle key, which Vert took with wide eyes and disbelief running through his mind. _Home world_?

“Why’re we going back there?” asked Zoom.

“Is that even safe?” asked Vert. He looked over his shoulder at the team, who watched Vert and Sage with equal measures of curiosity and concern. “I know what we do isn’t safe, but Sage…”

“It is necessary,” said Sage in the tight, firm voice she always did when she was worried. She sighed and drifted down until she touched the ground, making her shorter than Vert. She stared up at him, the soft glow of her eyes betraying her fear. “There is a signal emanating from my planet. I do not know what it is, but it is coming from the knowledge centre of the main city.”

Sherman hummed and said, “So, like a library?”

“Precisely,” said Sage. She turned her attention to the whole team, floating a foot or so into the air and drifting away from Vert. “When my planet was destroyed, our knowledge was largely lost. However, if the signal from our knowledge centre is not a mistake, it means some of the data logs survived.”

“Sentient knowledge,” said Sherman, a sense of wonder in his tired voice.

“And probably a better way to fight the Reds, yeah?” said Spinner, looking from his brother to Sage. Even his hair seemed to perk up at the prospect.

Sage nodded. “Precisely. It is essential that you go to my home world and find anything you can.”

AJ appeared from the edge of the room, holding out a cup of coffee to Tezz, who cradled it like someone might cradle a baby, nursing sips from the black liquid. Vert eyed Tezz curiously, wondering if it was safe to take him into a battle zone. The answer was _probably_ no, but Tezz could work on Hub duty once he was woken up properly.

“All right,” said Vert. “And what are the odds that we’re gonna run into your brother and his band of baddies?”

Sage frowned and waved her hand, bringing up a map of the multiverse on a holographic screen. “My brother will have also received the signal. However, it is difficult to configure a portal to go to my home world after the damage caused to the portal network surrounding our two planets.” She looked to Vert and pulled away the map. “It will take him time to find a way through the portals. You must act quickly.”

Vert nodded. “All right,” he said, turning toward the team. “Stanford, Agura, Spinner, Sherman, and Zoom, you’re with me. AJ, Tezz, you take Hub duty. AJ, try not to let him hit his head if he faints.”

AJ gave a thumb’s up and Tezz scowled at Vert but said nothing. Vert wasn’t sure he was capable of speaking at the moment, what with how tired he seemed.

Vert went over to the Saber and slapped the key on the hood. “Let’s move, team.”

“Yeah!” said Zoom, punching a fist into the air. Vert rolled his eyes in good nature. Leave it to Zoom to wake up the moment the prospect of a fight came up.

The five vehicles headed out, opening up the portal and heading for the Blue Sentient home world. Vert took a deep breath as he passed through the portal. It was hard not to tense when he remembered the last time he’d been on this planet.

Kyrtus waking up, the team’s vehicles destroyed, him turning back to try and save the world. He’d be dead if it wasn’t for Zemerik. For the others, that was an easy detail to forget, but Vert never forgot it. He didn’t think he’d ever stop having some sort of weird guilt complex that was half twisted loyalty toward Zemerik because of that. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to fight Zemerik probably after that.

It was too hard to forget what Zemerik had done for him.

It was too hard to forget how powerful Krytus had been until their vehicle upgrades.

If Sage hadn’t had her memories and powers restored…

Vert didn’t like to think about it.

“Hey,” Zoom’s voice was soft over their private channel. Vert blinked, coming out of his thoughts just as they passed through the portal. “You gonna be okay? You’ve kinda got the worst memories of this place.”

Vert took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, thanks.” Zoom gave him a thumb’s up and Vert switched over to the public channel. “All right, Sherman, take us forward.”

The Buster moved first and the others followed behind, probably slower than they had to. Vert couldn’t fault Sherman for his caution; he was on edge as well. His gaze kept sweeping back and forth, his scanners keeping an eye out where he couldn’t. Red Sark, Red Sentients, red anything. All of it was being scanned for in every way they knew how. Vert was tempted to ask Stanford to take periodic echo maps for extra precaution, but he didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to them if there was anything around.

He also didn’t want the others to know that, of every place in the entire multiverse, this was the only one Vert was scared of. The Blue Sentient home world should have been a place of peace, of unity, for Battle Force 5. Instead it was a war zone, a battle ground, and the backdrop to many of Vert’s nightmares since Krytus had awoken months ago.

Zoom flashed Vert a smile from where he drove next to the Saber. It was a gentle thing, impossibly soft without being undermining. Despite everything, it helped.

Zoom had been sharing a bed with Vert long enough to know what most of his nightmares were about. This place, this team, this war.

Their deaths, and leaving Vert alone, forever, a failure once more.

“We’ll be okay,” said Zoom on their private channel.

“Thank you,” whispered Vert.

Zoom gave him a little two-fingered salute, which Vert noticed drew Agura’s attention. She didn’t ask. She never did. She was a good friend like that.

“We’re getting closer,” said Sherman. “I’ve found the source of the pings Sage was getting on Earth. There’s something strange about them though.”

“Strange like you don’t know or strange like we’re about to get our butts kicked?” asked Zoom. He cocked his head as he spoke, shoulders rolling with the motion.

Sherman hummed, silent as he pondered the answer. It was Spinner that ended up filling in.

“Strange like ‘this isn’t a data log or mobi signal’,” said Spinner. Vert could practically hear him shaking his head over the coms. “Jeez, this really isn’t something else, isn’t it?”

Tezz’s voice came over the coms, sounding surprisingly awake despite his earlier status. “Spinner is correct. This signal is like only one we have seen before.”

“Which one?” asked Stanford.

“Sol’s,” said Tezz. A weighted silence fell over the team. No one said a word, as if each was scared to break the silence.

Sol had been a failure on their part. They’d messed up, gotten him destroyed, and they hadn’t found out nearly enough about him or what had happened during that point of the war before he’d gone down. Yes, he could be restored when the war was over, but that didn’t change that Sage was still in mourning. That Sage was still upset and the rest of the team was still feeling guilty for what had happened.

Especially Vert. He should have been able to do something, _anything_ , to help out the other Sentient, but he hadn’t. Now, it was just Sage all over again.

“Keep going,” said Vert. “If this is a Sentient signal then, trap or not, I wanna know what’s making it.” The five vehicles kept going through the city. They drove through wreckage and rubble, through a city that had once been beautiful but was now full of death and bad memories. The great roads of the sentients and their beautiful lattice work had been destroyed. The skyscrapers were partially collapsed and rubble littered the streets so thickly that the five had to divert their route multiple times in order to keep going.

Vert tried not to think about anything but keeping his mind on the signal they were following and on his scanners as they kept him informed of the area around them. There was no sign of Red Sark and no sign of Red Sentients. Vert didn’t let his guard down. If Sage said that the Reds could find their way here, then it was only a matter of time before they got a portal and headed for the knowledge centre.

It was only a matter of time before he’d be reliving that first battle with Krytus. This time, it would go differently. This time, he would win without Zemerik’s help. He’d been fighting the Reds for months. He’d been fighting Krytus for months. He wasn’t about to let a little thing like a couple of late nights and nightmares stop him from being team leader of the BF5.

He was supposed to be fearless.

This was what being fearless meant – taking your fears and pushing back at them until they disappeared or buckled under your own determination. Vert wasn’t about to let something like fear hurt his team.

Even if he was so on edge he worried his teeth were about to start chattering in a second.

The BF5 came around one last corner behind the Buster and the whole city opened up in front of them. The massive buildings fell away to a city centre filled with statues, lower buildings, and rubble. It was mostly destroyed, but as they crept forward through it, Vert thought he could see what it was supposed to look like. A meeting place for Sentients to laugh, socialize, and share knowledge. It had probably been beautiful, before the war.

Vert hoped he’d get to see it rebuilt.

At the far side of it was a blue and grey pyramid. It wasn’t as big as Vert might have imagined, but it was still huge, and when the lights from their cars hit the glass – for the clouds didn’t seem to want to part on this planet – the blue stained glass triangular panes lit up a thousand different shades, throwing triangular patterns across its surface.

“Wow,” whispered Zoom. “That’s really cool.”

“That’s where the signal is coming from,” said Sherman.

Vert nodded and rolled his fingers on his steering mechanism. “All right, team, we’re splitting up. Stanford, Agura, I want you two to stay out here while Zoom, Sherman, Spinner, and I go in after the signal.” They all nodded. “Sherman, lead the way.”

The Buster started forward, the Chopper moving alongside the Saber, while the Reverb and the Tangler circled back around to guard them while remaining partially hidden. Vert double checked his coms before he drove through the entrance to the pyramid.

Whatever that signal was, and whatever it was coming from, they’d have their answers soon enough. Vert only hoped it wouldn’t end as badly as Sol.


	2. The Librarian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vert finds out what the signal is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah it's been a while. But hey, it's back!
> 
> I'm not even gonna try and explain just read it.

In the dim light that came from the broken glass ceiling high above the Saber, Vert could make out a handful of unbroken data logs that were scattered on the shelves amongst the hundreds of shattered ones. Those that were whole glowed faintly in the darkness, a beacon of knowledge and safety for those that could get them.

“All right, split up. Let’s see if we can find that Sentient signal,” said Vert. He drove straight down the middle of the three major aisles in the library. Zoom went down the right, while the Buster went to the left. As Vert drove, he switched his engine over to stealth mode to listen to the empty library around him. The revving of the Chopper and the rumbling of the Buster echoed off the walls, but there were other sounds as well. The clinking of the data logs as they shifted in the stirring air, the tinkling noise that came from the wind running through their broken shards, and what almost sounded like a low wail from time to time.

Almost as if the long lost sentients were crying out for their people, for their knowledge.

For their very lives.

Vert took a deep breath and kept going, scanning for the signal with the Saber. It was closer – closer than it had been earlier, and it kept getting closer as he inched his way through the library, careful to never bump into any of the shelves that climbed into the mist and fog that clung to the ceiling of the pyramid.

The Saber beeped again, louder this time, and Vert stopped driving. He climbed out, his sword in one hand, and ventured forward, into the darkness of the aisle. There were two data logs still intact, as far as he could see. They glowed faintly, tucked in a corner, but the signal wasn’t coming from there. Instead, the signal was coming from further down in the darkness, where the shattered data logs were stacked high on a handful of shelves.

He frowned and kept moving forward, sword in hand and eyes narrowed. His comm link was live, but no one was speaking. It was as if this place put a spell on people. Vert swallowed and shook that feeling off. He didn’t need to be thinking about spells and curses in a society built on science.

Everything in the multiverse could be explained. It was Stanford’s job to be the superstitious one out of the eight of them.

The beeping on his comm link, routed from the Saber, stopped as Vert paused in front of the shattered data logs. He frowned. Then, with a grimace, he brushed aside the shattered data logs, careful not to damage them.

As he cleared them, a faint glow disturbed the pile, and he paused for only a moment before digging deeper into the shards. When he brushed the last of them away, there laid something he thought he’d never see again.

A sentient in hibernation mode.

Vert sucked in a sharp breath, stumbling back. His sword clattered to the floor, echoing off the vast walls and shelves all around him.

Tezz and Sherman had been right. There _was_ a sentient signal here. Just like Sol.

Vert hesitated, unsure what to do. Should he get the sentient off the shelf, or should he get the others?

The decahedron made the decision for him. It began to glow, shards lifting up around it, and then the shards clattered to the floor and the decahedron floated out from the shelf and hovered for only a moment. There was a flash of light, Vert shielded his eyes, and then there was a female Blue Sentient in front of him, resting on her knees with her hands splayed on the floor.

Vert dropped to his knees immediately, reaching for her.

She was shorter than Sage, and slighter as well. Her head didn’t protrude back as much, either, and instead was rounder, rather than sharp angles. Her markings were thinner, but much more intricate, as if a language was splayed across her form.

When she looked up at Vert, her facial markings almost seemed to give her glasses – cat’s eye ones, to be specific – and she stared at him with equal parts horror and wonder.

“Who… who are you?” she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, like Sage’s had been back when Vert had first met her. She flickered, her power obviously depleted. But it was not a flicker like Sol’s had been. But, instead, a flicker like Sage’s. She was stable.

_She would live._

Vert exhaled, tension leaving his body and hope springing to life in his chest.

“My name’s Vert Wheeler. I’m human. I…” He hesitated, wondering how much the Sentient knew. “I work with the Blue Sentients.”

“They’re alive?” she whispered, staring up at him. The horror changed to hope and awe.

Vert winced. “Just one,” he said. “But we’re trying to find a way to bring the rest back.”

She nodded. “Thank you,” she murmured, looking away from him.

“Who are you?” asked Vert, hesitantly reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. “How did you end up here?”

She smiled. “My name is Corona. I am a Blue Sentient, just as the one who you work with. I am the librarian of this place. The keeper of knowledge.” She looked around, horror in her expression as she saw all the shattered data logs. “The data logs…” She looked away. “I have failed.”

“You haven’t,” said Vert, taking her by both shoulders. “You did well, to stay hidden and stay safe. And there are still plenty of data logs in one piece.”

Corona frowned, bowing her head. “I cannot take credit for being whole and alive. It was my twin, Kero, who saved me.”

Vert paused. A Red Sentient? He’d thought they were all frozen in time. Or else were the big bad reds they were always dealing with. There had to be a story here. A big one. If there was another red running around – potentially a _good_ one – then the tides of war might finally be drifting in their favour.

_“Vert?”_ Zoom’s voice came over the comm. _“Everything okay? We can’t hear the Saber.”_

Vert looked to Corona. “My team,” he explained at her curious look. “Mind if I tell them?” She nodded, gesturing toward his comm link. He gave her a small smile and a nod in return. “I found the signal. She’s a Blue Sentient. Follow my tracker and then let’s get out of here.”

_“A Blue Sentient?”_ came Spinner’s voice. _“Woah.”_

_“Be right there,”_ said Zoom.

Corona shifted so she was sitting with her legs crossed, holding herself with her slim arms. She shivered, almost as if she were cold, but Vert figured it was more fear than anything else. He didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious, or what the last thing she’d seen was, or even if she knew anything about what was going on in the present.

“Corona, is it safe to take you back to Earth?” asked Vert. He wasn’t sure if she’d even know what Earth was, but he hoped. After all, if she was a librarian, or whatever the Sentient equivalent was, then maybe she’d have some knowledge of human culture.

“Yes,” she said, her voice slow. She flickered again and pressed one hand to her head. “I fear I cannot recharge here. The mobius command centre I was attached to was destroyed before I…” She shook her head. “I need to recharge.”

“We have a Mobi on Earth,” said Vert. “I’ll get my team to gather up all the data logs we can, and we’ll head back there so you can recharge and we can get a full story on what happened to you.”

Corona nodded. Vert got to his feet and helped Corona to her own, leading her toward the Saber. Outside, there was a crash and a roar, and he started, eyes going wide.

_“Vert! The Reds are here!”_ Agura’s voice over the comms.

“Buster, Chopper, Tangler, hold them off. Reverb, get in here. I’ve got a Blue Sentient who’s in no shape to fight. I want to get out of here as fast as possible,” said Vert. He scanned the data logs around him. He let go of Corona so should could lean on the Saber and ran over to the shelves, grabbing as many whole data logs as he could and tossing them expertly into the Saber. Then, he threw his sword back in as well.

_“A Sentient?”_ echoed Stanford, the Reverb’s engines roaring in the distance. _“Bloody hell. Is this one going to explode too?”_

“Explode?” echoed Corona, her eyes growing wide. “I certainly hope not.”

“Relax and get in here. We’ve got work to do,” snapped Vert. A moment later, the Reverb came roaring in and Stanford opened the hood.

“Come on then, love. Let’s get you out of here,” he said. He swung out of the Reverb and helped Corona swing into it. Vert hopped into the Saber.

He and Stanford both got their roofs closed just as Kyburi and Kyrosis came roaring into the library.

“Stanford, go!” shouted Vert. The Reverb’s tires spun, blowing up dust, before it took off in the opposite direction. Kyrosis took off after Stanford and Kyburi dropped down between Vert and Stanford before he could tear off to help.

“Well, well. What brings you to this disgusting place?” hissed Kyburi.

Vert grit his teeth. “Sight-seeing,” he bit out, before flooring the gas and speeding around Kyburi. One of her wheels reached for him and he spun, skidding just passed it before tearing off after Stanford and Kyrosis.

Whatever happened, he wasn’t letting the Reds get Corona. Not after what had happened to Sol, and definitely not when this war was far leaned in favour of the Reds that Vert sometimes wondered how the hell they all were even still alive.

“Guys, keep Stanford safe. Forget fighting full out, we just need to get home,” said Vert. He sped around a corner and shot out of a hole in the wall, landing amidst the ruins of the Sentient civilization once more. He shot through the streets, skidding around rubble and fallen buildings, desperately tracking Stanford’s signal.

“Little help!” called Stanford. He wasn’t screaming or shrieking. His voice level but worried. That made it worse. He was trying, obviously trying, so hard to keep it together. He was the only one with a passenger seat, but handing him a Sentient with no notice was _not_ a good decision. Even if Stanford had proven plenty capable in the past.

“I’m coming!” Vert shouted back. He spun around another corner, nicking the edge of a building, and saw Stanford fleeing Kyrosis up ahead. Vert floored the gas, knowing he was going to regret the wear on his gears later, but he could always fix that. He couldn’t fix a mistake out here.

Vert skid between Kyrosis and Stanford, pulling the chainsaw just in time to clip the side of Kyrosis’ car. It spun out, slamming into a pile of rubble, which collapsed on him and shattered his car, sending him back to his respawn chamber.

“Go, go, go!” shouted Vert. He and Stanford tore off, side by side, and Vert prepped the battle key. There was no time for fusing, no time for fighting, no time for anything. He would not let the Reds know that he had a Blue. He would not let her be seen or hurt in this fight. He didn’t care if Krytus would call him a coward, he was going to get out before anything got bad.

Two more Red Sentient essences fluttered above in the air, though Vert didn’t know who they belonged to.

“Are we clear?” asked Vert.

“As we’ll ever be!” came Zoom’s response.

Buster, Tangler, and Chopper joined up with him and Stanford. The five vehicles shot toward the street they’d come from.

“Coward!” shouted Krytus. “Stand and fight.”

“Not today, Kyrtus,” Vert muttered, not bothering to broadcast it to him. “Not today.”

The portal opened, the five leapt through, and Zoom closed it immediately on the other side. Then, the five vehicles headed toward the Hub.

As they drove up into the garage, Vert noticed Corona looking around next to Stanford from inside the Reverb. Her eyes were wide, awed, and she seemed almost confused.

The five parked and AJ, Tezz, and Sage came running.

“Did you find the signal?” asked Sage.

Vert realized he hadn’t broadcast anything back to Earth during the fight. He winced and climbed out of the Saber.

Before he could say anything, however, the roof of the Reverb opened, and Corona climbed out, falling to the floor.

“Sage?” she breathed, staring up at her with wide eyes.

“By the stars, Corona, you’re _alive,_ ” replied Sage, before rushing toward her.

Well, thought Vert, wasn’t that interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated! Even just a '<3' can make my day!


	3. The Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated tags, summary, ship list, etc.
> 
> Don't take the chapter number too seriously. It's just for shits and giggles.

There was a long moment of silence before the members of BF5 started speaking, all on top of each other.

“Hold it!” called Vert, shutting down the rambles and confusion of his friends. “Sage, Corona, what’s going on?” Everyone fell silent, staring at Sage and Corona, who still were crouched, holding one another. They all waited for answers. In the silence, Tezz and AJ both appeared, their footsteps faltering and stopping when they saw Corona.

“My name is Corona,” said Corona. She pulled herself to her feet with Sage’s help. The two stood together. “Sage is…” She hesitated, frowning, as if unsure how to phrase what she wanted to say.

“The Sentient term is Soma, but for all of you, the term would be lover,” said Sage. Her voice was soft, her gaze turned away from them all.

_Lover._

Vert couldn’t help the soft, wide smile that spread across his face. “That’s incredible,” he said. He looked from one to the other. “I’m so glad we could bring you guys back together.”

Sage lifted one hand from Corona and reached out, just as she had with Sol, weeks ago. Corona reached out as well, and a spark of electricity connected their palms for a moment. Then, they stepped close together, foreheads bowed and close, and a soft blue glow enveloped them. When it faded, Sage and Corona both had new markings on their faces, shaped like tiny half-hearts, on the outsides of their eyes. The unfinished side of each heart faced away from their eyes, so that, if the two were joined, the hearts would be full.

“Wow,” breathed Spinner. “That’s… wow.”

“Wow is right.” Agura looked from the two to Vert, shaking her head. “I didn’t know Sentients took lovers.”

“Not all Sentients do,” said Tezz. “But those who do mate for life.”

Vert nodded. “And for Sentients, that’s a long time.”

Sage smiled, taking Corona’s hand. “Indeed, it is. I must thank you all for returning her to me.” She cast a look to Corona, fear evident in her expression. “I must ask, however, was your return stable? Are you in any danger? Can you recharge?” The words were hurried, sharp. With Sol so fresh in all of their minds, Vert knew what Sage was asking.

Was Corona going to die?

“I am fine,” said Corona. She took both of Sage’s hands and held them between them. “Vert ensured my return was safe and uninterrupted. I shall live as long as you, my soma.”

His vision blurring, Vert turned away, rubbing at the tears that had gathered in his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked, finding Zoom with similarly watery eyes standing next to him. The two hugged, pressing their foreheads together, and Vert chanced a quick kiss to Zoom’s lips.

“My soma,” whispered Vert to Zoom.

Zoom flushed pink and smiled up at him, shy but sweet. “As long as you’ll have me,” he replied.

Stanford cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should give the newly reunited couple, and our fearless leader and scout, some privacy?”

Various murmurs of agreement rolled through the group. Vert flushed and took Zoom’s hand, pulling him toward the lift as the others climbed into their car and headed toward Zeke’s.

“We have much to talk about,” said Sage to Corona, as Vert and Zoom disappeared into the upstairs.

~*~*~

The steady rhythm of the shower was the only sound in the bathroom. It echoed off the tiled walls of the bathroom, mixing with the steam that heated up the small room as it grew thicker and thicker.

They stripped slowly, Vert helping Zoom and Zoom helping first. Their hands slid across the other’s body, cupping biceps, trailing down chests, and lingering at hips as they stepped out of their pants and then their underwear. Mouths met, a soft kiss that turned deeper, tongues intertwining, and soft pants lost in the fog and the rain of the shower.

Hot water splattered into skin and hair as the two stepped into the shower, their words lost and unimportant in the ethereal trance that had come over them both. Vert’s hand slid down, cupping Zoom between his legs before pulling back to stroke him, slow and steady. Zoom gripped Vert’s shoulders with white knuckles, head thrown back and resting against the water slick tiles.

“Mine,” Vert whispered is Zoom’s ear, gripping his length and stroking with the rhythm of Zoom’s heart.

“Yours,” whispered Zoom in response. His head fell forward, hair falling in his eyes, as he dropped his forehead to Vert’s shoulder. “Mine.”

“Yours.” Vert’s words echoing into Zoom’s skin before being replaced by Vert’s tongue and teeth. He stroked faster, harder, until Zoom was clinging to him so hard that he was going to leave bruises.

Vert cursed, his own cock hard and heavy between his legs. He nipped at Zoom’s ear, twisting his hand around Zoom’s dick until Zoom was shaking, keening, and coming undone in his hand.

The water washed away the remnants of Zoom’s release. They stood there for a moment, both panting, and then Zoom was grinning up at Vert.

“My turn,” he whispered, nipping at Vert’s ear, before dropping to his knees. Vert braced himself against the tiles and let his head fall back to the wall, closing his eyes and allowing the pleasure of Zoom’s mouth to wash over him.

~*~*~

Corona and Sage stood side by side, holoscreens flying around them as they sorted out the details of Corona’s return.

“I cannot believe you’re here,” said Sage. The screens in front of her fell away and she turned to Corona, smiling at her. She felt warm, soft, as if a part of her she hadn’t known was missing had returned. Before her mind had been restored on her homeworld, she’d known she’d forgotten so much, but she hadn’t known how many people she’d forgotten. How many relationships.

When her mind had been restored, she’d remembered Corona, and while she’d been grateful to remember their relationship, it had opened an entirely new tear in her programming. A tear of loneliness, of sadness, of longing.

Now she was back, and it was impossible to process, to understand. The odds of her survival, of her being found, of her not being damaged like Sol was, they were so astronomical, so impossible, that Sage had never allowed herself to think of them before.

But now she was here. Alive, whole, and reunited with her on earth. It was a blessing, a miracle, an impossibility, but one she did not want to disprove or disbelieve.

What was the Earth saying? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?

“Neither can I,” replied Corona. She took Sage’s hands in her own and smiled at her. The half-hearts that made up their new markings glowed faintly, marking their proximity to one another. “It seems the multiverse is not completely without benevolence.”

“Indeed,” agreed Sage. She looked to the screens that floated next to them, a slight frown on her face. “With your help, my ability to search the multiverse has expanded exponentially.” There were signals marking the map, echoes of powers that had once fought for control, and whispers of dangers, of ancient evils, that had been long since locked away.

Sage’s gaze lingered in the zone the Battle Force 5 often referred to as ‘the evil race track zone’. Something was… off about that zone. Something she had not noticed before. Something she knew only now because Corona, as keeper of knowledge for the Blues, had been privy to information that Sage had not.

“What do you think of this signal?” asked Corona, gesturing to a battle zone Sage hadn’t seen before. “It is in a prison zone.”

Sage frowned. She gestured and expanded the screens, bringing up all the information that she could about the zone. “Not one of ours or the Reds,” said Sage. “It must be older than either of us.”

Corona shook her head. “That seems… odd. Should not all of those zones be disabled and locked down?”

“They should,” agreed Sage. She hesitated, one hand raised to the move the screens, but unsure what she wanted to see. “If this one is active, then others could be active as well.” She and Corona cast a worried glance at one another.

“We should alert your team,” said Corona.

“Our team,” corrected Sage. “And we will, but first, I must ask, how did you survive? The last I saw of you, you were in the library on our homeworld.” She reached out and took Corona’s hand in both of hers. “What happened?”

Corona rested her free hand atop Sage’s. “Krytus and his Reds came for me when I was alone in the library. So many of our own had already fallen.” She looked away from Sage, and Sage felt, through the Soma-created psychic link, her fear and trepidation over the story. “When he arrived, I ran. I thought he would destroy me, but he did not get the chance.”

“Did you fight?” asked Sage.

Corona shook her head. “I did not.” She hesitated once more. “Kero did.”

“Your twin?” asked Sage, her eyes growing side. She remembered Kero. They were Corona’s red twin, and had been Krytus’ other general, the one in charge of prisons. Kero had been ruthless and terrifying, cutting down all those who stood in Krytus’ way. She remembered the day Kero and their army of Reds had marched on the Blue capital.

That had been the day the fires started.

“Yes,” said Corona, drawing Sage from her memories. “They…” She shook her head. “They _betrayed_ Krytus.” She sounded as shocked as Sage felt. “They betrayed him and attacked him, allowing me to escape. I saw…” She looked away. “I saw Krytus _stab_ them, then I was forced into hibernation mode as Kero fell, and was hidden within my data logs, and that is all I remember.”

Sage bowed her head, closing her eyes against the onslaught of memories that assaulted her mind. Kero, attacking the Blues, their army, surging forward, Corona, terrified and alone as Sage had to leave her to freeze the Reds to save the multiverse.

How it had all failed, when Sage was the only one left, and how only Rawkus had prevented her destruction.

“We have made many mistakes,” murmured Sage.

“It is time to rectify them,” replied Corona. The two cast a glance to the glowing signal on the screens, pointing them toward a prison zone almost as ancient as Rawkus, himself. “Let us call your – _our_ team.”

Sage nodded and sent out the signal, still holding Corona’s hands within her own.

~*~*~

Vert and Zoom came into the diner side by side, both looking a little sheepish and with damp hair. Spinner whistled, his pizza held aloft in one hand, and Agura rolled her eyes. AJ grinned and gave a thumb’s up, which Vert rolled his eyes at, and then the two both took their seats in the booth.

“So, what’s up?” asked Zoom. “Any idea what Sage and Corona are up to?”

Spinner shook his head. “I _still_ can’t believe Sage has a girlfriend – a wife? What even is a Soma?”

“A soul mate,” replied Tezz, not looking up from whatever he was doing on his tablet. “They are two halves of a whole, connected by a psychic bond that is more powerful than any other force in the multiverse.”

Zoom leaned back in his seat and grinned. “So, what’re you saying is that true love really _does_ conquer all?”

Tezz gave Zoom a curious look. “I… do not understand that reference.” He went back to his tablet, flipping through information that was probably about Sentients, if Vert had to guess. Tezz never took a break, no matter how much they asked him too.

_“Team,”_ Sage’s voice came over their comms. _“We have received a strange signal from another zone. Please return to the Hub.”_

Vert looked across the booth at the others, who all seemed equally as confused as he did. “Sure thing, Sage, we’ll be right there.”

They all got up and headed to the door.

“Do you think it’s another Sentient?” asked Stanford. “That can’t be possible, can it?”

Vert shook his head, lips pressed together. “I dunno. Let’s go find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	4. The Ancient Prison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Doom_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tee-hee.
> 
> Tee-fucking-hee.
> 
> Enjoy.

The ride into the Battle Zone was sombre, silent, and all together filled with the sort of dread that Vert hadn’t felt since the first time they’d driven out to find Krytus and his Reds.

So much had changed in the last day. Sage was no longer alone. Beyond that, she had, against all odds, against what should have been possibility itself, been reunited with her _lover._ Corona was intelligent, and Sage had mentioned, briefly, on comms, that Corona knew more than she did about the Multiverse as a whole and about a great deal of their mission.

There had been a shared look, in those words. A look that had the hairs on the back of Vert’s neck rising. Something was wrong. Sage was hiding something, possibly something important, and Vert had no idea what it could be.

It was a blessing to have another Blue, to have someone like Corona at their side, but…

But if Sage and Corona were already keeping secrets from the BF5, less than a day after their reunion, then Vert wasn’t sure this blessing didn’t have a curse to go with it.

The key that led to their next destination laid upon the hood of Vert’s Saber. It glowed black and purple, a strange, fractal-like maze etched into its surface. Or so Sherman said.

Sherman, Spinner, and Stanford had been left behind on this one. Tezz rode in Stanford’s steed, just in case they needed brains, and AJ rode in place of the Buster, for brawn. Something about the zone had made Sage recommend both switches.

Vert wasn’t sure about either of them, or about Sage’s cryptic reasoning, but Vert hadn’t bothered to question it. Enough had happened today already. He’d question Sage when he got back.

 _After_ they checked out whatever it was that was going on.

“So… what’s this zone supposed to be like, anyway?” asked Zoom, riding at Vert’s side. He cocked his head as he spoke, his words directed to the Cortez brothers back at the Hub as the ground team approached the portal.

“A prison zone, according to Sage, this one even older than the last,” said Sherman. He frowned. “According to Corona, this one is older than Blues _and_ Reds. It wasn’t made by either of them, but something that came before. We don’t know what to expect once you get through, so stay on your toes.”

Vert sighed. “Great,” he said, shoulders slumping. “I love surprises.”

Stanford snorted from where he stood, next to Sherman. “Isn’t that my line?” he asked, raising both eyebrows.

“Usually,” replied Vert.

The key lifted into the air and opened the portal wide in front of the Saber. Vert took point and shot in, the others close behind him.

The other side of the portal opened up into a mechanical graveyard that reminded Vert far, far too much of the zone they’d thought they’d beaten Zemerik and Kalus in. It was different, though. Purple and maze-like, with darkened skies and fallen stone statues that marked the area. One, a massive statue that looked like a monstrous, stone person, with the head and shoulders long since destroyed, loomed over the five vehicles as they rolled forward through the battle zone.

“Well, this is certainly charming,” drawled Stanford. He huffed, but Vert could hear the undercurrent of fear in his voice. All around them, inactive machines, like Sark but older, more stone-like. The lines of the robots, dim but faintly visible, were purple. Shadowed, darkened, and barely visible, but still there.

Still barely, faintly, almost imperceptibly _there._

“What are they?” asked Zoom. His voice seemed to echo in the space. With so many fallen, toppled, broken buildings, there wasn’t for the voice to bounce properly, to get absorbed. Instead, it just kept echoing, drifting over the grey and shadowed zone until the wind carried it away and left the zone silent once more. Silent, except for the howling winds and the echoing creaks and groans of the ancient buildings and machinery that watched them all as they debate what to do.

“Not a clue,” said Vert. He frowned, drumming his fingers against his steering mechanism. “Sherman, Tezz, you’re our experts on alien tech, any idea what all this is?”

“Ancient, for one,” said Sherman, over the comms. He hummed and shook his head. “This stuff isn’t even written in ancient Sentient, it’s something even older, even more…” He hesitated. “It’s advanced, guys. Sentients were and are high tech race, but there’s no way even they could manage half the stuff that you’re seeing, even at their peak.”

Vert heart Tezz curse under his breath in Serbian. “He’s correct,” said Tezz, his accent thick and his voice low and frustrated. “The technology here… it would take me years to understand and control, even with my knowledge of Sentient technology and culture.”

“It might even be harder, knowing Sentient. A lot of this stuff is branching derivatives, stuff that sort of relates but not really. It’s sort of like learning languages with similar alphabets but different rules – too easy to confuse them – except this is on a way bigger scale.”

“How big are we talking?”

“Big,” said Sherman. He sighed, his tone crackling over the comms. “There’s only two symbols that are the same, as far as I can tell.”

Vert grimaced. He didn’t wanna ask. He really, really didn’t wanna ask. “Which are?” he asked, anyway, because he was team leader and he had to.

“Life and death,” said Tezz.

Vert sighed, his tone frustrated and breathy. “Well, _that’s_ not foreboding at all.”

“No,” said Agura, drawing out the word as she peered out her windshield at the zone. “Not creepy at all.”

“All right,” said Vert, his voice echoing across the comms. “Spread out. Let’s see what we can find. Keep the lines wide open. I wanna know what you see and when.” Vert pressed his lips together and huffed out a breath through his nose. “Whatever set off the signal has to be something big, or else it wouldn’t have gotten Sage’s attention. Let’s figure it out.”

The five vehicles split off in all directions, spreading out over the zone and disappearing around corners, leaving only the quickly diminishing echo of their engines behind.

Vert took a breath and started forward, pushing through the darkness and the smog of the desolate, destroyed battle zone.

It reminded him of Sol’s battle zone, in some ways. An ancient prison, but with the power turned off. It looked like there were banks of empty cells, the bars turned off and leaving metal slabs on the floors and ceilings of busted open buildings.

Static rippled through the comm links, obscuring any background noise that the others might have been hearing. But if the zone was off, where was the static coming from? Maybe the signal that Sage and Corona had heard was causing it.

Sage and Corona. Man, _that_ was a weird change to get used to. But a good one. Sage had someone back. Someone important to her. And the team had someone to give them an edge. It was almost too good to be true.

Vert kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sol had died and they’d been excited about him. Corona may not have been in any immediate danger, but _something_ had to go wrong, sooner or later. That was kind of how this war had worked since Krytus had showed up.

Maybe her twin was secretly Kyburi or something. Maybe her shell was cracked, and it’d puncture soon. Without a respawn chamber, she’d die. Or maybe…

There were a lot of options and he needed to shake them off. He needed to be positive. She’d survive. She’d stay around. Having two Sentients would help. And whatever was in this zone could be handled. He knew it.

“Uh, Vert?” AJ’s voice, nervous and low. Vert grimaced. Yeah, he’d probably jinxed that, hadn’t he? Damned multiverse.

“What is it?” he asked. The static on the comms crackled and hissed, like it was a living, breathing thing. And _that_ wasn’t creepy at all. Nope.

“I think there’s someone _here_ , dude,” said AJ. The static kept up, crackling on some of his words. Vert still made him out, but only just. “I keep seeing something in that one big building in the centre, like shadows in the windows and stuff.”

“Great,” said Agura. “A ghost.”

The comms crackled, Sherman’s face appearing for a second, but then it was a gone again. The link they had to Earth died all at once.

“We’ve been jammed,” said Vert.

“Jammed?” echoed Zoom. “Dude, only the Reds know how to do that. Even Zemerik can’t go up against super-powered Sage.”

Vert frowned. “But they haven’t come out of hiding, which means it’s not them.”

“Probably whoever AJ sees,” said Agura.

“Tezz,” called Vert, leaning his head to one side to try and study the building AJ was probably referring to. It was a taller thing, like a guard tower. The windows in it were dark, but Vert faintly made out a low, slow moving shadow in one of the higher windows. Someone was _definitely_ in there.

Vert just hoped it wasn’t another TORS-10 fiasco. _That_ hadn’t exactly been a fun day.

“Can you get us un-jammed?” asked Vert.

Tezz hummed in that way he only did when he didn’t wanna answer a question. “I am… unsure.” Now _that_ was new. Tezz hated admitting he was wrong. Especially before he got like, fifty times to try something. He hadn’t even bothered this time. “Whatever is blocking the signal is sophisticated. Spinner would have a better chance.”

“And we can’t contact him,” said Vert, slumping in the Saber’s seat. “Great.” He took a breath and ran everything over in his head. “All right, there’s obviously someone or something up there. Tangler, Chopper, flank around and sneak in, see what you can find. Gearslammer, Splitwire, the three of us will keep the attention of whoever is up there.” The team split off, Agura and Zoom sneaking around the back while Vert, AJ, and Tezz kept doing their sweep. It was partially to see if there was anything interesting in the prison, and partially to get the attention off their resident shadows.

“You think they can hear us?” asked AJ.

The shadow in the windows shifted again, but it seemed less like a shadow of someone moving and more like the shadow of a shifting light source.

“Probably,” said Vert. “Come on, spread out. There’s gotta be something around here to get Sage all worked up.”

The three vehicles spread out, going in a grid formation through the battle zone with little communication. The entire process was long memorized, even with AJ and Tezz being the most recent additions to the team. Tezz was quick at picking up plans, even if he didn’t like following orders, and AJ was good at following orders, even if he wasn’t as quick to pick them up.

Ancient prisons, fallen buildings, all sorts of rubble and destruction that came from years of neglect and what was probably a break-out at some point. Whatever had broken out, Vert thought, staring at the gaping holes in the sides of the buildings, it had been big and mean.

And it was long, long gone by now. But who knew where it had ended up after this battle zone. Maybe it was something they’d faced, but Vert had a sinking feeling it wasn’t.

He took a breath and kept going, through the shadows, through the dust, and through the wreckage that painted everything grey and bleak and dirty.

~*~*~

The inside of the main tower was nothing like Zoom had expected. He’d expected it to be as broken down and desolate as the rest of the battle zone, but it wasn’t. It was in good repair, clean, and most of the stairs and uneven lifts and falls had been covered over with welded metal, smooth and well-worn in lines, like it was regularly travelled.

The Chopper and Tangler were both parked outside, hidden under and overhang so that whatever was up here couldn’t find them. A precaution they rarely had to take, but one that made Zoom really, really glad that their vehicles were pretty small and easy to hide, even if his _was_ bright orangey-yellow.

“This is unreal,” said Agura, voice quiet. She and Zoom cast a look to one another, both pensive. Whoever was in here was obviously in good shape. They’d obviously survived a while, and they’d obviously worked hard in this zone.

“What is all this?” asked Zoom. Maybe Agura would know what kind of creature it would be. Maybe it was a Vandal, or some kind of freaky Sark? Or… Jeez, there were so many options. None of them good.

Agura hummed and crouched down next to one of the makeshift ramps that was thrown and welded over the short sets of stairs and single steps that littered the area. She ran her fingers across the marks, pursing her lips.

“These are tire tracks,” said Agura. she looked up at Zoom, brow furrowed. “Not from outside tires, either. These…” Another hesitation, another frown. “These are wheelchair tracks.”

Zoom blinked. “ _Wheelchair?_ ” he echoed. He crouched down next to Agura and touched the tracks. They did remind him of wheelchair marks. He would have guessed it was a Kharamanos, like Tromp, but there were four tracks instead of one, and the ones on matching sides twisted and passed over one another, like wheels being adjusted for steering.

“So this is a person,” said Zoom. He and Agura turned to look at one another once more before getting to their feet. “This is an actual, human person. This is just someone like us.” He frowned. “Like Tezz.”

“Like Tezz,” echoed Agura. She tapped her comm link on her wrist. “Vert, come in.” Nothing. She frowned. “Vert?” Static answered them.

Zoom tapped his own. “Vert?” He shuffled onto his and Vert’s private channel. “Vert?” Static.

“Jammed,” said Agura. She put her hands on her hips and frowned. “All right, new plan.” Zoom nodded and listened for her instructions. Agura was a great second-in-command, and while Zoom could lead himself in a pinch, and was pretty good solo, it was better to defer when working as a group. “We’ll scout the inside perimeter to find out what we’re dealing with, then move in from there.”

“Or,” came a voice they didn’t recognize from the ceiling. The voice echoed, feminine and tinny. “You could just leave.”

The floor beneath the two opened up, and Zoom and Agura fell down into the darkness, screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	5. The Lost Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got nothing.

As the darkness swallowed him whole, Zoom reached out for the wall, gloved fingers scrambling for purchase. He jolted, latching hard onto a ledge he found. His shoulders screamed in protest, pulled taunt and burning all the way to his core.

“Zoom? You okay?” Agura’s voice, a little lower and on the other side of the tunnel. Looked like she’d managed to grab something too.

“Yeah, I’ll live,” Zoom bit out. He’d come _this close_ to ripping his shoulders out of their sockets. Man, he was gonna feel this tomorrow. Presuming there _was_ a tomorrow. This chick seemed pretty determined to kill them. “Man, what is _up_ with this girl?” He tried to pull himself up and gasped, dropping back down. Shit, shit, _shit._ His shoulders were _definitely_ hurt.

“Zoom!” came Agura’s voice. Above, the grate that had dropped them down closed, shifting the tunnel into perfect darkness. “Hang on, I’ll get you out of here.”

“Appreciate it.” Zoom closed his eyes and tried to focus on breathing. This was _bad._ Maybe he had dislocated something. Or sprained it. Straining his shoulders wouldn’t have hurt this much. _Fuck._

Light flickered despite his closed eyes and he opened them to find both of their wrist comms had started glowing, like glow sticks or flashlights. Zoom chanced looking over his shoulder and saw Agura hanging a bit lower, illuminated by the blue glow of their wrist comms.

“Hey,” said Zoom.

Agura looked over her shoulder and cracked a crooked, tired smile at Zoom. “Hey,” she replied. She looked up to the top of the tunnel, where the grate mocked their plight. “How are we supposed to get out of this?”

“I have no idea,” said Zoom. He closed his eyes again and hung his head. With how much his shoulders hurt, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to hang on for long.

There was no way they both got out of this in one piece. He wondered how long it’d take Agura to realize that.

~*~*~

Something was wrong. Vert had known that since the comms got jammed, but now, more than ever, he was convinced something was very, very wrong.

A flare from the Splitwire drew him and AJ toward the tower, and while Vert would normally be upset at Tezz for breaking any sort of advantage they had over an unknown enemy, the moment he saw where the Splitwire was, he took back any sort of frustration.

The Chopper and Tangler, parked and covered in metallic chains that were magnetised to the ground and were glowing pink.

“Tezz?” Vert climbed out of the Saber. Tezz and AJ climbed out as well, both of them staring at the magnetic nets. “Magnets?”

“Lasers,” said Tezz, sounding both shocked and offended. “ _Jebati_ , lasers?” That was _definitely_ a swear, but Vert didn’t know what. “How are they combining magnets and lasers.” A pause. “And in pink!” Tezz through his hands into the air and huffed, his bangs flopping in his face. A laser whip snapped out from the wall and snatched the glove right off his hand. The whip disappeared back into the tower.

Tezz blinked. Then growled. “Whoever this is, I am going to _murder them._ ” His voice dropped low and throaty and Vert took a step back, eyes wide. Okay, that was _about_ as terrifying as that one time Zoom chucked Kalus through a wall on Vandal.

Less attractive though.

“Let’s pause on the murder and find Zoom and Agura,” said Vert, holding up his hands in defense. “Okay? If this is a robot, you are welcome to murder them.”

Tezz gave Vert a flat look that had Vert stepping back even further. Yeah, so, Tezz was mad and it seemed like he was good to go after whoever was convenient. “And if it’s not?” asked Tezz.

“Only if they try to kill us first,” said Vert. He darted around AJ and patted Tezz on the shoulder, then pushed forward into the building. He wasn’t worried about Tezz actually killing anyone. He was a scrawny guy who couldn’t even take Stanford in a fight. Without his glove, he wasn’t a fighter.

But in a state like this – volatile, emotional, unfocused – he would end up hurt. Severely hurt. That was what Vert was worried about. Tezz was easily the physically weakest member of the Battle Force 5, bar maybe Spinner, depending on the day and the training – as well as who Zoom had harassed more recently.

Together, the three headed up the stairs and into the strange tower.

~*~*~

Sherman tapped away at the holo screens that floated in the Hub, frowning as he tried to re-establish a connection with the team in the Battle Zone.

He shook his head and sighed. “This is unreal,” said Sherman, mostly to himself. “The level of technology and knowledge of Sentient technology needed to create a jam this absolute is something even Tezz couldn’t accomplish when we met him.”

Spinner munched on some pretzels he pulled out of a bag in one hand. “Yeah, this program is some weird mish-mash of Sentient, complex American systems, a little bit of the Pentagon’s code, and…” Spinner narrowed his eyes. “I’m pretty sure that’s the old code the French used for their research computers and banks.” Spinner grinned. “We’re dealing with a hacker, bro, and a pretty sweet one.”

Sherman rubbed his chin, frowning to himself. “This makes no sense,” he muttered. He ignored that Spinner knew the coding used in the Pentagon and French banks, because he was not in the mood to find out how many laws his big bro had broken when he wasn’t looking.

Instead, he stepped away from the screens and headed over to another set of them, to see what he could find out about the zone they’d sent the team in to.

“Have you had any luck re-establishing communications?” asked Corona. Sherman jumped a little. Corona floated above him, dangling outside down with her legs crossed and her hands raised as she tapped at upside down holo screens. He stared, not quite sure what to make of the whole situation.

She was… certainly different, to say the least, and Sherman had no idea what to make of her, beyond her being Sage’s… wife? Probably a close enough word, at least.

Sherman was used to Sage, who was regal, if emotional at times, and usually serious about their work. Corona was… not that. Her floating upside down while working was only a small portion of that.

Maybe Blue Sentients were normally less human than Sage was.

It made sense. Sage had only been around humans for almost two years. She’d absorbed a great deal from them in that time. Whereas Corona hadn’t been around anyone in a very long time. They hadn’t known Sol long enough to know if he was more like Corona or Sage in terms of overall humanity, so Sherman wasn’t sure if it was a pattern or a coincidence.

“No,” said Spinner, still eating. “Whoever’s doing this is _good_. We’ve got nothing.”

Corona hummed and floated higher into the air, turning over to tap at holo screens that appeared in front of her as she floated. “This is incredibly sophisticated work. It reminds me of—” She stopped, abruptly, and floated to the ground, her feet silent as she darted across the Hub toward Sage without another word.

“Sentients sure are strange,” said Spinner.

Sherman sighed, but he couldn’t disagree. “Let’s just try and re-establish communication, bro.”

“Roger dodger,” said Spinner, saluting him before getting back to work.

~*~*~

Vert got five steps in the door when what Spinner called his Zoom Sense™ went off. Something was wrong. He bent down and found marks on the floor from scraping metal. He frowned. The perpendicular lines were a couple feet apart and worn in, which meant something passed over this spot pretty often. But why?

It dawned on him a moment later.

“AJ, Tezz, get over here,” called Vert. As the two approached, Vert tapped the lines on the floor and followed them to a square metal tile that was out of place with the rest.

_Bingo._

“AJ, give me a hand,” said Vert. AJ came up to the other side of the tile and, together, the two hauled it off to the side. Vert tapped the flashlight on his wrist comm and shone a light down, revealing Zoom and Agura dangling above a bottomless pit.

“Hey guys,” croaked Agura, her shoulders obviously trembling even from this distance. “Little help?”

“Tezz, go get a line from one of the cars,” said Vert. Tezz nodded and took off, running as fast as Vert had ever seen him.

“Are you guys okay?” called AJ.

“Not really,” replied Zoom. He didn’t even look up as he spoke, his head still hanging down. He made a quiet, frustrated noise. From where he was kneeled on the ground, Vert could see blood staining one shoulder of Zoom’s uniform. He frowned, worrying his lower lip.

“Hang on tight,” said Vert. “We’ll get you two out of there are soon as Tezz gets back.”

“Awesome,” came Zoom’s reply, distant and unfocused. Vert wondered how much blood he’d lost, how much danger he was in, and how injured Zoom was. Beyond that, he wondered what the hell had done this to them. Were the machines up here still automated? Was someone running the show? And, if someone was, was it the same person they’d seen in the shadows of the tower from outside?

Tezz reappeared with the rope and Vert attached it to a pipe that arched out of the floor nearby. Carefully, he and AJ fastened a strong loop and lowered it down into the shaft.

“Zoom, see if you can get your legs through it,” called Vert. Tezz used his flashlight to shine a light down while Vert and AJ lowered the loop until it was passed Zoom’s feet. Slowly, they pulled it up, adjusting it as they need to.

“They’re through,” called Zoom, his voice sounding strained.

Vert and AJ kept pulling until the loop was just under Zoom’s armpits.

“Okay,” called Vert, “We’re gonna lift you up, but you have to let go of the ledge for us to pull you up safely and attach the loop.”

“Yup,” called Zoom. “Let’s do this.” He let go with one arm, then the other. His weight hit the rope all at once as his arms wrapped around it. Vert and AJ grunted, straining as they held tight to the rope.

“Let’s pull him up,” said Vert through gritted teeth. Together, the two pulled Zoom up, moving hand over hand until Zoom was within reach, then AJ let go of the rope and pulled Zoom up over the ledge.

Vert winced when he saw the blood up close. Zoom’s entire shoulder seemed to be bleeding, or else he’d been bleeding long enough to soak through the entire shoulder of his uniform. Not good.

“All right, Agura next,” said Vert. They repeated the process, lifting Agura up with relative ease, considering she was lighter, and less injured.

“Did you guys fall?” asked AJ, holding Zoom upright as Zoom cradled the injured arm close to his chest.

“We were dropped,” said Agura, rubbing at one of her shoulders and grimacing. “Some freaky bitch in the ceiling dropped us into the pit and told us to leave.”

Zoom thumped his head against AJ’s shoulder. “We should probably get out of here before she comes back.”

Vert nodded. “All right, AJ, grab Zoom, Tezz—” He stopped short and looked around. “Where’d Tezz go?”

To the side, in the deeper parts of the tower, all the computer screens changed to static, then a pink glow, before switching to a screen with a young woman sitting down.

“Hello Battle Force 5,” she said.

Agura groaned, “Great, that’s her. Little Miss Supervillain.”

The woman scowled. “Watch what you say. I’m the one in control here.”

“You tried to kill us,” said Zoom, still leaning heavily into AJ.

The woman shrugged, her chin length, honey blonde hair bouncing. She kind of looked like a cherub, with the hair, the wide eyes, and the pink nose, though without the chubby cheeks. Vert wasn’t sure if that made her more or less creepy, with the whole supervillain thing.

“That was the idea,” said the woman. She eyed them over her worn glasses, which were held together with wires, bits of electric tape, and magnets. Vert wondered how long she’d been in here. She was cleaner and less starved looking than Tezz had been when they found him, but not by much.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Vert. “What did we ever do to you?”

The woman growled. “I’ve been here for _six years_ ,” she said through gritted teeth. “Do you really think this is the first time some bullshit evil team has showed up to try and get me to join their world domination plan.” She folded her arms and scowled, though it was kind of pouty. “Last time it was some blue robot, and now it’s you.”

Vert blinked. “Wait—” he started, but the woman cut him off.

“Now, if you want your friend back,” the screen changed to Tezz, standing in a room by himself, “you’ll have to do exactly what I say.”

Agura pushed herself into a sitting position next to Vert and grimaced. “Or we could just leave,” she said. “Tezz can find his way out.”

The screens cut back to the woman, who scowled further. “You really think some dumbass foreign boy can outsmart me?” She gestured to the room around her, which none of them could see. “I managed to shut down your communications, I nearly killed two of your teammates.” She folded her arms again. “There’s no way you can stop me. Now—” She cut back to Tezz’s screen, but he was gone. “What the fuck! Where’d he go?”

All the screens went dark in unison and the entire zone went dark with it. “Ha!” came Tezz’s voice, echoing through the distance. “Take that you psychotic bitch! I knew I was smarter than you!”

“I think Tezz found his way out,” quipped Agura. She got to her feet and grinned at Vert, holding out a hand. He grabbed it and let Agura pull him to his feet. AJ stood and helped Zoom stand. He wobbled before straightening up.

Tezz came into the darkened room, holding a bunch of wires, wearing his glove, and with a crazed and triumphant look. “I hacked the battle zone!” he declared.

“You pulled a bunch of wires, didn’t you?” asked Agura, putting her hands on her hips.

“I _hacked_ the _battle zone_ ,” said Tezz, a little more forcefully.

Vert pinched the bridge of his nose. “All right, now, let’s get out of here.”

 _“Self destruction sequence activated. Sixty seconds until destruction of tower,”_ said the computer above them. The woman appeared in the corner of the room, sitting in a wheelchair.

“No way out now,” she said, smirking. “Now what will you do?”

“She has a motorcycle,” said Tezz, conversationally.

“I can probably grab her,” said Zoom, also.

“I can get the chair,” said AJ.

“And I can knock her out,” said Agura, grinning.

The woman blinked. “Wait, what?”

 _“Thirty seconds to tower destruction,”_ said the computer.

“Right, everyone move, let’s get out of her!” shouted Vert. “Tezz, get the bike.” He ran for the outside of the tower, leaping into the Saber. AJ leaped into the Gearslammer, wheelchair over one shoulder, and Agura appeared a moment later, the lasers gone from the Tangler.

“I already did,” replied Tezz, rolling up in the Splitwire with the bike strapped to it via electromagnetism. Zoom came flying over the edge of the tower, Chopper freed, with the woman thrown over the back of his bike, unconscious. Together, the team tore off to the edge of the battle zone and launched themselves back to Earth, leaving the weird battle zone behind as the tower exploded behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuckin' comment, scrubs.


	6. The Pink One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girl wakes up.
> 
> It doesn't go well.
> 
> Then it does.
> 
> Sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOO!

The girl, unconscious but probably still vaguely murderous, regardless, ended up in the med bay with Sage looking her over. From what she could tell, the girl was roughly twenty-three, the same age as Vert, and suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. Beyond that, she had only very limited use of her legs and appeared to be semi-stuck in a state of adrenaline. Sage had had to pump her full of sedatives to force the reaction out of her system, and Vert only hoped she stayed that way.

“How long until she wakes up?” asked Vert, casting a look back toward the med bay before turning his attention to Corona and Sage, the former of whom was looking at holo screens in Sentient, and the latter of whom was watching all of them with vague concern.

“I am uncertain,” said Sage. She studied the screens, frowning. “It appears her body suffered a great deal while she was trapped, much like Tezz, however, while Tezz was able to keep himself active so as to avoid muscle atrophy, the lack of mobility in the lower half of her body has caused a great deal of muscle erosion and bone density deficiencies.”

“Meaning?” asked Zoom, leaning against the Reverb, his arms folded across his chest and his brow furrowed. A bandage was wrapped around his head and around his shoulder, leaving him shirtless and covered in medical wraps. It had a tight feeling of worry in his gut, but Sage had cleared Zoom after a blood transfusion, some saline, and some quick check-ups. Blood lose and a torn muscle, but nothing that wouldn’t heal on its own.

Sherman said, “Meaning, she could break a bone much easier than the rest of us, and she’s at risk for muscle tears.” He frowned and cast a look back to the med bay, “I don’t know guys, I know we needed to bring her back, but this is…” He trailed off and looked away, lips pressed together in a thin line.

Vert understood. Bringing back this girl, whoever she was, was dangerous, but he needed to stay strong in the face of adversity, especially when everyone was scared of someone who, essentially, amounted to a very small, very physically limited, very angry young adult.

“Relax guys, we have nothing to worry about, she’s just a girl. We can handle her,” said Vert.

And just then, as if some mischievous, hate-filled higher power had somehow been summoned by those exact words, Vert found himself falling, backward, onto the floor, and, before he could blink, said physically limited, frail, small girl was atop him, with a scalpel pressed into his throat and a needle pressed into the crook of his elbow.

“You have _got_ to be kidding me,” muttered Vert, tilting his head back to keep the blade from pressing too deeply. Regardless, he felt the hot sting of blood well up against his throat and slide, comically slow, passed the cold, sharp blade.

“Where the _fuck_ did you bring me to?” snarled the girl, her teeth and eyes bared and flashing white in the stark lighting of the Hub.

“Hello! I’m Corona!” chirruped Corona from behind Vert’s head, floating forward as if she were laying on a surfboard. “Welcome to Earth!”

“Corona, maybe now’s not the time,” said Sherman, his voice slow and measured.

The girl narrowed her eyes, gaze flickering upward to Corona before she frowned, deep enough to make a ravine in her face. “Thought you guys only came in red.”

Well, that certainly explained a _lot_ about this girl, to put it lightly.

“Only the evil ones!” said Corona, still perky as ever. “You seem stressed. You should try to relax.”

“Corona,” said Sage, sighing, “humans have different emotional ranges than Sentients, we should leave them to sort this out on their own.”

Vert sighed, wincing when the blade pressed a little harder into his skin. He swallowed, feeling the burn as the cut against his skin deepened and spread.

“Where am I?” asked the girl, narrowing her eyes. Without her glasses, her eyes were out of focus, not quite looking straight at him, but at this distance, Vert doubted she needed them.

“Earth,” said Vert, slowly. “You’re on Earth. We’re friendlies.”

The girl narrowed her eyes. The grip on the scalpel was loosening, like she was too exhausted to hold it for long. Made sense, considering what Sage had said.

“Where?” she asked. The blade slipped half an inch down, lingering against his Adam’s apple. Vert tried not to breathe too deeply.

“Handler’s Corners,” said Vert, tilting his head back a little. The girl’s hand followed.

The girl scowled. “Never heard of it.”

“Told you it wasn’t just me,” said Stanford, scoffing.

Spinner nodded. “He’s got a point, we are kinda in the middle of nowhere.”

Vert fought the urge to sigh again. He didn’t need to cut anything important on his own frustrations. “Can we maybe not antagonize the girl who’s got a knife to my throat?”

Silence.

“Utah,” said Zoom. He took a step to the side, then one forward, placing himself still out of reach of the girl, but close enough that his speed could be useful. “We’re in Utah, a couple hours outside of Salt Lake City, on the Salt Flats.”

The blade pulled away from his throat, but only just.

“We’re friendlies, I promise,” said Zoom. He kept himself in her line of vision as he moved toward Vert. “You really think we’d leave you unrestrained and let you try and stab Vert if we didn’t want to help?” Zoom tipped his head to one side. “No offense, but uh, without all your gadgets, I could take you with my own good arm.”

The girl kept scowling. Vert was pretty sure that was the wrong thing to say.

“Oh yeah, hot shot?” said the girl, scoffing. “Fucking prove it.”

Zoom shrugged. “’Kay.”

Before Vert could properly process anything, Zoom had crossed the short distance, knocked the scalpel from her hands, and lifted her off the ground, dangling her upside down so her hands were planted on the floor.

“Proved it,” said Zoom, sounding cheeky. He set the girl down and sat down in front of her, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his ankles. “I told you,” he shrugged, “we’re friendlies. We even know someone who was stuck in a battle zone, same as you.” He nodded to Tezz. The girl followed his nod and Tezz gave a little wave. “We just wanna help.”

“A battle zone,” echoed the girl. She shifted and tucked her legs under herself, then pulled a small piece of metal out of her back pocket. She ran her thumb over it, frowning. “Is that what they’re called? I never…” She shook her head. “I understand _how_ to work with where I was, but I never understood _what_ it was.” She looked up at Tezz, frowning. Slowly, Vert sat up, rubbing his throat. His fingers came away bloody, but only slightly.

Thank god.

“How long were you in there?” she asked. Tezz sat down in front of her, his own hands on his knees. She watched him, her expression much softer, more vulnerable, than it had been before. Maybe it was starting to get to her, the weight of everything that had happened to her. Being trapped, being alone, being scared. Having whatever else had happened to her, well, happen.

Vert couldn’t imagine what she and Tezz had been through. It was something he never talked about.

“Almost ten years,” said Tezz. He was dressed in street clothes, just like the rest of them, and the clothes made him look even smaller than usual. “It was not long before my tenth birthday when I was pulled into a battle zone.”

The girl nodded. “It was six years, for me.” She tugged at the strands that were loose on her worn sweater. “I was sixteen, when I went through…” She shook her head. “It’s Viv, by the way.” She looked up. “My name, it’s Viviana Lyon.” She shrugged, hugging herself.

“Tezz Volitov,” said Tezz. “Pleased to meet you, Viv.”

Viv scooted a little closer to Tezz. “How’d you get through?”

“A car of my own design.” He tilted his head to the side, gesturing toward the cars. “It was upgraded into the vehicle it is now.”

Viv nodded, her head down. “I made a motorcycle. It was junior prom at my high school and…” She grimaced and looked away. “I was angry. My aunt was coddling me, and I was done with her.” She shook her head. “So, I left. I drove as fast as I could, and when I thought I couldn’t go any faster, I _did._ ” She stared at her lap, fiddling with her sweater. “Something opened up in front of me and I ended up in the place you found me in.”

Tezz, with a great deal of hesitation, reached out and rested a hand on Viv’s knee. “You are free now, just as I am. Wherever you go from here, whatever you want to do, we will stand behind you.” He tilted his head and looked at her through his bangs, a little smile on his face. “Friend?”

Viv covered his hand with her own. “Friend,” she agreed.

“So, she tries to kill us, and we just forgive her, just like that?” asked Spinner.

Vert shrugged. “She’s been through a lot, Spinner. Give her a break.”

Spinner lifted his hands in defense. “Hey, I’m just saying, she could be evil. She did say she knows about the Red Sentients.” Spinner narrowed his eyes at her. “How _do_ you know about the Red Sentients?”

Viv frowned and looked over to Sage and Corona, who hovered around the edges. “I didn’t know they were _called_ Sentients. I’ve seen some of them at a distance, driving around, but none of them ever came near me.” She hugged her knees and her frown deepened. “I didn’t know they were that bad.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool,” said Vert. He leaned against a tire stack that was perched next to the computers. “Look, it’s been a rough day, and I’m sure we all have to fill each other in on a lot. So, why don’t we get you something more comfortable and head to Zeke’s Diner?” He looked down at Viv, who stared at him with wide eyes. “My treat?”

Slowly, Viv nodded, and she accepted Sherman’s hands when he held them out, allowing her to pull herself up and slip into her wheelchair.

“Just like that? You’ll let me out into the world?” she asked. “You’re not worried about me?”

Vert shook his head. “I know that fear, anger, and loneliness can do some pretty significant damage to a person, and I know that part of undoing that damage is getting you back into the world.” He stood up straight and looked at Viv with a little smile on his face. “So, what do you say? Wanna take a ride in the Splitwire and get some sodas and pizza?”

Viv nodded, a smile on her face as well. “Sure, sounds perfect.”

Together, the whole of the BF5, including Viv, headed out to the diner, with Corona questioning the existence of pizza as she waved goodbye to them all.

And maybe Viv was still volatile. And hell, maybe she was secretly a double agent. But treating her like a criminal wasn’t going to get them anywhere. So Vert figured, why the hell not let her breathe and enjoy herself. If there was anything going on with her, they’d know it soon enough. But Vert wasn’t too worried.

After all, the scalpel could have been a lot more dangerous. Instead, he just had a weird paper cut-looking thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	7. The Diner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to the diner. Viv gets introduced. New people appear. One of them is... unexpected. The other is just plain cute.
> 
> Also, Zoom was given too much morphine. It's just as hilarious as you think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEET YEET MOTHERFUCKERS.

The diner, as per usual, had a handful of people scattered around at the tables. The usual booth that the BF5 sat in was empty, having been sort of permanently claimed by them.

Grace gave a wave when she saw them come in, before darting off into the kitchen to grab some orders. Zeke, as per usual, was behind the counter, talking to Sheriff Johnson about something or other. Vert vaguely caught a comment about something with tourists and trash.

There was a second figure at the counters that Vert started when he saw. It’d been _ages_ since he’d seen this particular resident of Handler’s Corners.

“Noah?” he asked, voice half-disbelieving. The burly, older man turned in his seat and grinned when he saw Vert, spreading his arms wide for a hug.

“Vert Wheeler! Why, I haven’t seen you in an age and a half!”

Vert darted in close and hugged him tight. Noah squeezed him back, extra tight, and held Vert’s shoulders when Vert stepped back. Noah looked him up and down, still beaming.

“You’re looking fantastic, son,” he said, patting Vert’s shoulders.

“So are you,” said Vert. It was true. Noah had gone completely grey, his hair a bit more salt and pepper than Zeke’s and shorter, though it covered his whole head. His plaid shirt was rolled up to the elbows, revealing scars and muscles that were older than Vert. His beard was fuller too, a bit longer now, but still well kept.

He leaned around Vert and gestured to his friends. “Who’re these?”

Vert grinned and stepped to the side, pointing to each friend as he spoke. “This is Agura,” he said.

Agura nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“And those are the twins, Spinner and Sherman.”

“Howdy!” said Spinner, waving.

Sherman chuckled. “Hello.”

“And you know AJ.” AJ grinned and waved. “The guy beside him is Tezz, and the guy on his other side is Stanford.”

“Charmed,” said Stanford, his accent more of a drawl than usual.

“This is Viv,” said Vert, gesturing to her, where she sat near Sherman. “And this,” he rested a hand on Zoom’s shoulder, “is Zoom, my boyfriend.” His cheeks burned a bit as he spoke, and he saw the raised eyebrows the team was giving him.

“Boyfriend, huh?” said Noah. He grinned at Zoom, reaching out to shake his hand. “Pleasure to meet you, son.” Zoom smiled, a little dazed from his concussion. Noah turned his attention back toward Vert. “Guess your old man was right, me and Zeke did turn you after all.”

Vert let out a sharp bark of laughter, clapping a hand over his mouth to stop it. The team gave him a weird look.

“I don’t give a _fuck_ what my old man thinks of me,” said Vert, firmly. “You and Zeke were better dads to me than he ever was.”

Noah’s expression fell, eyes soft. “Thank you,” he said, quietly.

“Vert, who is this guy?” asked Spinner, looking Noah up and down.

“Oh!” He hadn’t introduced Noah, had he? Oops. Vert gestured to Noah. “This is Noah. Zeke’s husband.”

There was a very long pause, then,

“That explains so much,” whispered Zoom, staring at the floor like he’d found Jesus in the coffee stains.

“I’m sorry, his husband?” echoed Stanford. He looked at Noah. “How the hell did _Zeke_ bag…” He paused, obviously trying to find something to say that wasn’t inappropriate. “A hunk of a _bear_.” Well, looked ike he hadn’t succeeded. “He’s _Zeke._ ”

“Hey now, Zeke was quite a looker when he was younger,” said Noah. Everyone gave him a flat look. Noah sighed. “He makes me happy, son. And he makes me laugh. Isn’t that what matters?”

Stanford smiled. “Yeah, it is.”

“Why haven’t we ever met you before?” asked Agura, folding her arms.

Grace slipped around and nabbed drink orders from everyone as Noah sighed and leaned back in his seat. Everyone else had their standard orders, so only Viv really needed to mumble something to Grace.

“I’ve been around, but not as often as I’d like. Been working the last two years to get retired. Was working lumber before all this, but I’m not as young as I used to be.” Noah sighed, dropping his head a little. “I stopped in, but Zeke always said you kids were out doing your test driving.”

“Yeah,” said Vert, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’re always in and out. Lots of travel, doing what we do.” He chuckled, wishing someone else would speak up. He’d always been a shitty liar. “So, uh, you’re retired now?”

“Yup,” said Noah. The kitchen doors swung open and Zeke came out. He saw them all gathered around Noah and chuckled, coming toward them.

“See you kids finally met Noah,” said Zeke, clasping Noah on the shoulder and beaming at him. “What d’ya think?”

“I think you being so supportive of Vert and Zoom suddenly makes a lot more sense,” said Spinner, grinning. “Way to go Zeke.”

Zeke chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“How long have you two been together?” asked Sherman.

Zeke huffed, blowing at his mustache. “Thirty-some years,” he said. “Believe it’s thirty-six, actually.”

“Wow,” breathed Agura, eyes wide.

“Now _that_ is true love,” said Stanford, smiling.

Noah chuckled, looking back to smile at Zeke. “Yup. I was with him when he first started his love of aliens, and the first time he ran for mayor.”

“Wait, Zeke was mayor?” asked Spinner, eyes growing wide.

“For ten years!” said Zeke, clapping his hands together. “Then I got outvoted by our current mayor. She’s a delight.”

“Zeke’s the reason Sheriff Johnson is the sheriff,” said Noah, picking up his coffee and sipping at it. “Johnson was the only cop who wasn’t a bigot, so Zeke promoted him to sheriff and fired everyone else.” He chuckled. “Handler’s has been pretty perfect ever since.”

Zeke shrugged. “Aw, shucks, I just try my best to keep this little town going. We deserve to live our lives, ya know?” Zeke smiled and squeezed Noah’s shoulder before heading back into the kitchen to finish cooking.

“It was nice meeting you, Noah,” said Agura, as the team dispersed and headed toward their booth. They shuffled around with practiced ease, allowing Spinner and Sherman to settle at the back and Viv to settle at the edge.

“I can’t believe Zeke was _mayor,”_ said Spinner, settling into his spot.

Stanford scoffed. “Oh, come on mate, like that’s the strangest thing in Handler’s Corners.”

“…You know what, Stan? That’s a good point,” replied Spinner.

Barely a moment later, Grace came out of the kitchen, drinks balanced on three trays as she came toward them.

Grace passed out all their drinks with practiced ease, sliding them around without so much as a hesitation. Everyone chimed their thanks and threw out their food orders, Viv included, before settling into their drinks.

With a little nod, Grace smiled at them all. She lingered for a moment, gaze on Viv.

Viv cocked her head in question, one eyebrow raised. “Yes?” she asked.

“Are you the newest member of their super secret racing club?” asked Grace, tucking the empty tray under one arm.

Viv raised both eyebrows, her nose wrinkled. “I’m sorry, what?” she asked, pushing up her battered glasses with one finger.

“Haha, good one Grace,” said Vert, covering up as quickly as he could. He looked to Viv who kept staring at him with that same, unimpressed look she always had. “Because we’re test drivers.” A pause. “For Spectrum Motors.” A pause. “That’s why our cars are so weird.” Viv kept staring. “So she calls us a secret race club.” She kept staring. “You know, because what we do is so, you know, top secret.”

Viv tilted her head, nose wrinkling further. “Uh… huh,” she said, slowly. “Right.” She drew out the word until Vert winced a little. “I’m more of a mechanic than a driver,” said Viv, turning back to Grace.

Grace looked between the two, raising both eyebrows. “Okay,” she said, slowly. Then, turning her attention to Zoom, she said, “So, uh, are you okay?”

“I have a concussion!” said Zoom, cheerfully, before going back to sucking on his smoothie through his crazy straw.

Grace shook her head. “Of course you do,” she said. “Anyway, I’ll be right back with your food.” She headed back into the kitchen, leaving them all behind.

Viv propped her face up in one hand, looking amused. “Test drivers, huh?” Her eyes twinkled. “Spectrum Motors, huh?” Vert winced, rubbing the back of his neck. “Is it ‘spectrum’ because your suits make a rainbow?”

“Yeah…,” said Vert, ducking his head. “It is.”

“Hey, if you join the team, your suit’ll be pink like your lasers, eh? We’ll have a new colour!” AJ beamed as he spoke. Viv just sort of looked at him.

“You’d almost be hot if you weren’t so god damn adorable,” said Viv, shaking her head.

AJ blinked. “Thank… you?” he said, slow and uncertain, rubbing the back of his head. Tezz narrowed his eyes before drinking his soda, looking almost annoyed. Vert shrugged, it was probably nothing.

“I thought we were ‘Spectra Motors’, with an ‘A’?” asked Spinner, furrowing his brow.

Vert blinked. Was it? “I…” He paused, before dropping his head and sighing. “I honestly have no idea.”

“Does Sage?” asked Spinner.

Sherman tapped at his wrist comm. “Negative. She thought it was ‘Spectro Motors’.”

Vert put his head in his hands. “Awesome, now we’re ghost busters.”

“Do do do do do do,” mumbled Zoom, to the tune of the theme music. He folded is arms on the table and rested his cheek on them, still humming. Sherman patted his head.

“Maybe we should take him home,” said Sherman.

Agura shrugged, sipping her soda. “He’s fine, the painkillers have just finally kicked in.” She pressed her lips together. “It’s probably a good thing he rode up with Stanford.”

“Yeah,” said Vert, eying him. “We should keep an eye on him.”

Viv twirled her straw in her drink, humming. “I really did break him, didn’t I?” she asked. “Poor, poor twinkie ninja.”

Four separate people choked on their drinks in unison. Vert was really, really glad he wasn’t drinking anything.

“I’m sorry, what?” asked Vert, staring at Viv.

“Okay, I’ve got your food,” said Grace, walking up with three platters balanced in her arms. “I’ve got a Hawaiian, a pepperoni, an extra cheese, a soy cheese, a jalapeno and hot sauce special, a Canadian meat lovers, a plain cheese, a strawberry, chicken, cream cheese custom pizza, and a club sandwich, extra pickles.” She slid out all the plates in order as she said them, grinning as they all thanked her. “Anything else?”

“ _Curly fries,”_ whispered Zoom fervently, lifting his head to look at Grace with wide, slightly unfocused eyes.

Grace raised both eyebrows. “Sure, why not?” she said. With a wink, she tucked the trays under her arm and strode back into the kitchen.

“What the _fuck_ is that monstrosity you call a pizza?” asked Stanford, staring at Zoom’s fruit, chicken, and cream cheese pizza.

“ _Lunch,”_ said Zoom, eating half of it in one bite. “Mmm, heathen pizza.” Vert dropped his head to the table, eyes watering as he tried not to cry from how hard he was laughing.

Viv said, “I think I’m gonna like it here,” between laughter. Everyone else laughed along with the two of them. Zoom kept eating his pizza.

Vert settled back into his seat and munched at his pizza while he watched the others.

“So, in your super secret racing club,” said Viv, her voice teasing as she hoisted her own piece of pizza. “What exactly do you _do_ between… club meetings?” Her face was twisted half into a suppressed grin and Vert rolled his eyes. She was enjoying this _way_ too much.

“Mostly what you see here,” said Vert, gesturing around the table. “We drive; we play video games; we hang out here and at the garage.” He shrugged. “Car maintenance, stuff like that.”

Viv hummed and kept eating. “Not a bad way to live,” she commented, picking at the ham on her pizza, idly. “You all seem pretty close.”

“We are,” said Vert, voice soft. “We’re family.”

Stanford looked up from where he was talking to Spinner across the table. “We are,” he agreed. “Dysfunctional, but a family, nonetheless.”

Spinner gave a thumb’s up and Sherman chuckled.

“Brothers in arms!” chimed Spinner, bunching a fist into the air. “And sister,” he added, winking at Agura.

Agura laughed and shook her head. “Sisters, maybe,” she agreed, casting a look to Viv. Viv flushed and looked down at her pizza, weirdly quiet.

Vert pressed his lips together, wondering about that.

Before he could wonder about it too much, the door to the diner chimed and an unfamiliar stranger wandered in. They wore a hooded sweatshirt, the hood pulled low over their face, and they were tall and lanky, somewhere between Stanford and Tezz’s physique.

They leaned against the counter, studying the menu charts on the wall.

“Who’s he?” asked Spinner, craning his neck to look at the new stranger who’d wandered into the diner.

“Hrm, someone strange in Handler’s Corners, wearing a hood,” said Agura. She raised both eyebrows. “Kinda reminds me of Zen.” She cast a look around the booth. “Please tell me this guy isn’t from someone’s tragic backstory?” A chorus of ‘no’s’ rang out around the table. Zoom gave a thumb’s up without lifting his head.

“Well, that solves one question,” said Agura.

“Maybe he’s secretly an alien?” guessed AJ, voice slightly too loud.

The stranger turned and chuckled. “’They’, actually, but I appreciate the curiosity.” They lifted their arms and pulled down their hood, revealing a complexion a few shades darker than Sherman’s and shoulder-length hair dyed dark blue, pulled back into a low ponytail. A grease smug marked one cheek, and a few silver rings and studs twinkled from their ears.

“Jax,” they said, giving the team a wink and a salute. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“That is a sweet name,” said Spinner. “Spinner. What brings you to our tiny desert oasis?”

Jax cracked a crooked, amused smile. “Just passing through. Looking for mechanic work, mostly.”

“We could use a mechanic!” chimed Grace as she ducked behind the counter to get some pie for a customer. “ _Ours_ is distracted by his super secret driving club.”

Vert rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. I’m a good mechanic!”

“When you’re not making out with a certain _someone_ on the cars,” said Grace, rolling her eyes. She passed a menu to Jax, beaming at them. “Feel free to let me know if you want anything.”

“Hey!” protested Vert, pouting. “I haven’t taken more than a week on anything.”

Grace slapped down the knife she was holding to cut the pie. “Give me back my Vespa, then!”

Vert wracked through his brain to try and figure out what he’d done with the pink and grey scooter that Grace had brought in to the garage way back before the team had founded.

“Uh…” Vert kept thinking. “I… think I sold it for parts?” He winced and rubbed the back of his neck.

Grace picked up the knife. “You did _what_?”

Vert shrunk back against Sherman, trying to hide behind him. “Sherman, help.”

Zoom lifted his head and squinted at Grace. “Please, no,” he said.

Grace lowered the knife, eyes narrowed. “You win this round, Vert.” She waved a finger at him. “But you better get me a god damn way to get to work.”

“Does Stanford count?” he asked.

“No,” said Grace and Stanford at the same time.

The door to the diner opened and a family of five walked in, their small children shrieking in time with the country music. Grace picked up some menus and hurried over to their booth.

Jax looked at the team. “This place seems like a lot of fun,” they said, chuckling. “I think I’m gonna like it here, at least for a few days.” They winked at the team and strolled over to the counter, taking a seat near where Sheriff Johnson was.

Vert shook his head and turned his attention back to the team. He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Spinner looking at the newcomer. His eyes were wide and his lips slightly parted. Vert raised an eyebrow at him. Spinner noticed and ducked his head, a blush dusting his cheekbones as he returned to stealing Zoom’s curly fries.

_Huh._ That was interesting. Vert wanted to take a deeper look into that when he got a moment. No real teasing, of course. Just gentle prodding. Sexuality things were always a little sensitive at first. Hell, he knew that. He and Zoom had struggled with it at first, with Handler’s being such a small town. Granted, Handler’s wasn’t like a lot of small towns. It was a _lot_ more liberal in a lot of ways.

Mostly because of Zeke. Strange as he was, he was a hell of a blessing.

The team kept talking for a while, trading arguments over what kind of pizza was best, whether or not pineapple was a valid pizza topping – Zoom, AJ, Spinner, Sherman, and Viv said yes. Tezz, Agura, Stanford, Sherman, and Vert said no. Obviously, this meant war. – and all sorts of other things. As they ate and laughed and chatted, Vert watched as Viv relaxed, settled in, and started throwing barbs, wisecracks, and jokes along with everyone else. Within the hour, everyone seemed to have grown used to having Viv around.

Vert lingered on AJ’s words from earlier as he joked and laughed with everyone else. About how Viv would add another colour to their rainbow if she joined them. She seemed pretty smart, and a second bike was something Vert had thought the team needed for months now. With the Reds such a threat, and so many other things in the multiverse turning upside down, a second scout would be fantastic. Plus, if they could get Viv’s bike upgraded and as fast as the Chopper, they’d have so many better options for recon.

It all depended on what the team thought, however, and whether or not Viv wanted to stay. They still hadn’t asked her what she wanted to do, how she felt about the team, their mission, or even being back on Earth.

It had taken Tezz weeks to adjust, and he was still a socially awkward mess that mostly stayed silent when there were people other than the team around.

Unless you got him arguing, which was always fun to watch.

After two hours, Vert noticed that Zoom had almost completely drifted off, despite the noise and excitement of the table. He leaned across the table and nudged Zoom, only barely getting a “mrm?” as a response.

“We should take him home,” said Vert.

A few seconds of shuffling and everyone was getting out of the booth. Viv swung back into her chair and wheeled herself out the door with the ramp – the side door – and the others followed, with Stanford and AJ mostly supporting Zoom, who shuffled along behind them.

Halfway to the Saber, Vert turned back around to check and see if everyone was out, and watched as Spinner, who was staring at Jax, barely visible through the door, smacked, face first, into the Buster.

He shrieked and flailed as he fell backward and hit the ground.

“Ow,” mumbled Spinner, rubbing his head.

Zoom cheered. “Now I’m not the only one with a concussion!” he shouted, throwing his hands into the air. He stumbled, a moment later, and started giggling as Stanford grabbed at him.

“You okay, big bro?” asked Sherman, helping Spinner to his feet. Spinner flushed and pushed away from Sherman was quick as he could.

“Fine, just got distracted,” mumbled Spinner, shuffling around Sherman to climb up into the Buster. “Don’t worry about it.”

_Huh._ Vert made not of that as well. As soon as Zoom felt better, Vert was definitely going to talk to him about all this. He’d never _seen_ Spinner act like this around anyone before. Sure, he’d gotten flustered before, but never like _this._ This was completely new.

“All right, love, let’s get you back to the Hub. Up into the Reverb with you,” said Stanford, trying to guide Zoom up to the hood of his car. “That’s it.”

“Are you gonna carry me with the power of friendship?” asked Zoom, resting his cheek on Stanford’s shoulder, humming slightly.

“Sure,” said Stanford, stumbling as Zoom’s full weight leaned against him. “We’ll get you home with the power of friendship and prayer.”

Zoom threw his arms into the air. “I have the power of God _and_ anime on my side! Woo!” He stumbled and fell back. Vert raced forward and caught him at the last moment. “Woo,” said Zoom, again, this time much softer and more subdued.

Vert sighed. “Little help, here, Sherman?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.

“How much morphine did Sage give him, anyway?” asked Sherman.

“The same dose she gives you,” said Vert.

Sherman blinked. “He weighs _half_ as much as I do, Vert.”

Vert blinked as well. “Well. Shit.”

“We should probably take him to the hospital,” said AJ, watching as Zoom’s entire body seemed to turn to pudding and slide out of Vert’s arms and onto the desert floor.

“Woo,” he mumbled, curling up on the ground.

“Yeah…” Vert shook his head. “Let’s take him back to Sage. Maybe she can fix…” He watched as Zoom rolled over onto his back and giggled. “…this.”

Vert and Sherman got Zoom to his feet and dragged him toward the Reverb, slowly and steadily.

“Easy does it, big guy,” said Sherman, helping Vert as Vert leapt onto the roof of the Reverb and pulled him up to the open roof of the car. “There ya go.”

Zoom giggled as Vert pulled him into his arms and started to lower him into the Reverb. “Well, _hello_ there, handsome stranger,” he said, grasping at Vert’s arms as Vert lowered him down to Stanford. “Are you here to _ravage_ me?” He giggled, dropping into the seat. “Oh _no_.” He giggled again; his head lolled to the side, drool dripping onto his shirt as he slumped against the side of the Reverb. “I’m so…” He yawned. “Scared.” With that, he was gone, completely unconscious.

Everyone was staring at Vert, who was turning redder by the second.

“I want it to be known,” said Vert, rubbing a hand across his face, “that I have _no_ idea where he got that from. I’ve never—we’ve never—” He sighed. “You know what, none of you are gonna believe me, so I don’t care.”

He hopped off the Reverb and strode over to the Saber.

“We’ll… deal with this when we get home,” said Vert, sighing. “Let’s ride.”

With that, they all got into their cars and headed back to the Hub, ready for whatever came next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See that comment box?
> 
> _Fill it out._


	8. The Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trust is earned, not given freely; lost is more than just a physical location, it is a state of mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahahahahaha
> 
> _ha_

After Vert put Zoom to bed, he headed down into the Hub, where the others were waiting. Spinner was perched on a table, his legs dangling in the air. Viv was leaned forward in her chair, elbows on her knees and chin propped on the backs of her hands. She was frowning, and the light from the holoscreens reflected in her busted glasses, dyeing her face a pale blue.

Vert came quietly into the room, lips pressed together and arms folded loosely across his chest. Corona was nowhere to be seen, but the lights of the Mobi were on, so he figured she was probably in there, doing whatever it was Sentients did.

“So, uh, what are we all doing down here?” he asked, already worried about the answer. He lifted one arm to rub the back of his neck and frowned as he looked around the room. “Something come up?”

“Actually, yes,” said Corona, floating out of the Mobi. Sage tapped away at the screens in front of her, off to the side from the rest of them. Tezz stood next to her, his arms folded across his chest and a frown digging a deep ravine into his face.

“The zone we found Viv within,” said Tezz, voice low and frustrated, “appears to have another energy signature. But it is currently blocking all forms of communication.” He turned to the team, his frown deepening into a scowl. “We cannot decode the energy signature, nor can we currently access the zone.”

Viv winced audibly. “That’s… probably my fault. I did sort of blow up part of the zone.”

Tezz waved her off. “I already tested that hypothesis and it returned negative. You may have started the reaction, but you are not the cause of it.”

Vert could almost feel the tension leave Viv as she slumped against her chair, a soft sigh slipping between her cracked lips. She said nothing more, but watched Tezz and Sage as they kept up their work.

“It is similar to the signature Corona gave off, but I cannot determine anything more,” said Sage. She gave a quiet huff of her own, similar to the sort of huff Stanford gave when he blew his hair out of his eyes. “Until we can determine how to communicate or re-enter the zone, there is nothing more we can do.” She looked to the team and frowned, something soft and confused in her eyes that Vert couldn’t place. “You have done great work today, please, rest now. Corona and I will keep you updated as soon as we have more information.” Another long pause, then, “Thank you. All of you.”

Vert smiled and crossed the room, pulling Sage into a light hug. “You are _very_ welcome, Sage,” he murmured, pulling her close. He stepped back and gave a little nod to her. “All right, everyone, let’s get some sleep. We’ll see what our favourite ladies have in store for us, tomorrow.”

Corona giggled and floated over to Sage as Tezz drifted back, falling into step with the others.

“We actually don’t have an empty room right now,” said Vert, rubbing the back of his neck as Viv wheeled herself along next to him. “You can sleep in Agura’s room, though, if she’s all right with that.”

Viv cast a glance up at Agura, somewhere between sly and shy.

“Yeah,” said Agura, winking down at Viv. “Why the hell not? Just promise not to kill me in my sleep.”

Viv gave a long, drawn out sigh that was _way_ overdramatic. “I _guess._ ” She huffed and blew her hair out of her eyes. “So, uh, how’re we getting me upstairs?”

Vert stared up at the stairs that led into the apartment above the garage. Hrm. That was a probably.

“Uh… you opposed to being carried until we can install an elevator?” he asked.

Viv glanced up at Sherman, who offered her a shy smile.

“I can live with that,” she said, the tips of her ears turning pink. Sherman gave a grin and lifted her up and out of her hair. AJ grabbed the chair, and the trio headed up the stairs, with Agura close behind.

“You can steal some of my clothes to sleep in, if you want,” said Agura. “And, if you want something clean to wear, I’m sure we have clothes that’ll fit.”

Viv rolled her eyes and tossed her arms around Sherman’s shoulders. “No jeans,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I’m allergic.”

Agura snorted. Of course you are.”

Vert hung back, watching Tezz as he studied something on his tablet, walking half a step behind Spinner, who was chattering excitedly about all the cool stuff they all needed to show Viv.

“Tezz?” asked Vert, voice low. Tezz looked up. The others kept going, pausing only for a moment before Vert waved them off. “Any ideas on what our mystery signature is?”

Tezz looked down at Vert, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, and lips pursed in a wrinkled line. “I do not like making guesses.”

“Humour me,” said Vert.

Tezz sighed and flipped his hair out of his eyes. “I believe… well, it is _possible_ …” He sighed. “It may be a Sentient, but I know for certain that is not a blue one.”

Vert sucked in a sharp breath at Tezz’s low words. _Another Red Sentient._ “You think Viv knows anything about this?” he asked, casting a glance to the top of the stairs, where the others had already disappeared from.

“She did say she thought Sentients were only red,” said Tezz. He rubbed his chin, thoughtful. “It is possible she has met Krytus and his reds…”

“But it’s not likely,” finished Vert. He tugged his fingers through his hair. “Shit.”

“Should we tell the others?” asked Tezz.

Vert shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “Stay frosty. Let’s see what she reveals. I don’t want to write her off as some kind of criminal or spy, but we need to be on our toes.” Vert sighed again. “For all our sakes, I hope we’re wrong and she’s just an unlucky girl with a knack for computers.”

Tezz nodded. “I hope so as well,” he said. With that, Vert turned and headed up the stairs, with Tezz a few steps behind him. As he headed to his shared room with Zoom, he tried not to let his fear of Viv’s possible villainy consume him, but it was hard. They’d only known Viv for a day, but she seemed so _nice_. You know, after she was done trying to murder them all. Surely, there was something he was missing.

He just had to find out what.

~*~*~

Stanford laid, sprawled on his back, on the roof of the garage, sometime after midnight. He’d slept on and off since going upstairs, but, despite all the action he’d seen in the last two days, he found he couldn’t sleep. With another strange energy signature humming in the background of his thoughts, it was impossible to still his mind long enough to sleep.

So, instead, he found himself in his tank top and sweatpants, sprawled on a chilly roof in mid-Autumn, eyes half-closed and a million stars staring down at him with all the knowledge of the multiverse.

Nights like this, when the cool breeze of the Utah night swept across the Salt Flats, and the stars winked and twinkled high above him, and all he could hear were the bugs and the wind and the animals on the hunt, he almost never wanted to leave.

Nights like this, Stanford couldn’t ever imagine going back to London. Couldn’t imagine ever _wanting_ to go back to London, when this was all over.

It wasn’t as if he were irreplaceable in London, after all. A dozen DJs could do his job, even if he _was_ the best of the best.

“Can’t sleep?” Agura’s voice, low and soothing, swept across the rooftop and entangled itself in Stanford’s hair, tickling his neck with a light touch. He tilted his head back and saw Agura padding across the roof to him, wearing an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

She sat down next to him, her arms wrapped around her legs, and stared out at the stars and the flats.

“Not particularly,” said Stanford. He pushed himself upright and combed a hand through his hair. The new cut, which was _far_ better than the old one, held up well regardless of whether or not he fashioned it into a fauxhawk. Apparently the one hairdresser in Handler’s did, in fact, know how to work with such styles.

He’d never been happier with his hair.

“What about you?” he asked.

Agura shook her head. Her dreadlocks were out of their signature ponytail, instead framing her face like an ancient, elegant crown. “Hard to, when your roommate is a stranger.”

Stanford tilted his head. “We were all strangers once, and I know for a fact none of those doors locked when we first moved in.”

“And we didn’t all come out of battle zones and try to kill each other the first time we met,” said Agura, drily.

Stanford chuckled. “Fair enough, love, fair enough.” He frowned, watching the stars as they slowly drifted across the night sky. “Seems a tad strange, don’t you think? How quickly Vert turned his opinion of her?”

Agura rested her cheek on her folded arms, watching Stanford with half-lidded eyes, only just illuminated by the stars and moon that hung high above them. Her eyes were pools of darkness and shadow, but despite that, they were still welcoming. Soft and warm in a way nothing else was. Nighttime, while a time of fear for many, was a time of acceptance and peace for Stanford.

A time where he could be himself, wholly and unapologetically, in a way he never could be when the sun was up.

“I don’t think he did,” said Agura, her lips barely moving as she spoke. Exhaustion clung to her like a blanket, wrapping itself around her and leaving her heavy and limp against her own legs. “I think he puts on a strong front, but he’s keeping his guard up.”

Stanford nodded, rolling over the thought. “He is quite the scheming one, isn’t he?”

Agura chuckled, low and warm and a little rough with sleep. “He’s overprotective and charismatic,” said Agura, rolling her eyes a tad. “‘Scheming’ is doing him a disservice.” She lifted her head and stared up at the stars. The soft glow illuminated the dark tones of her face, and Stanford found himself stunned into silence as she took on an ethereal glow that he could only describe as _godly._ Stanford swallowed. Blinked.

She was normal again.

He shook it off.

There were more important things to deal with than _that_. Even if it had worked out for Vert and Zoom.

“Perhaps, but I find there are few enough words to describe him already,” drawled Stanford, rolling his eyes a bit. “I’d appreciate not losing yet _another_ one.”

“‘Disaster bisexual’ isn’t enough for you?” asked Agura, her tone dry. She raised both eyebrows at Stanford, mouth twisting up into a wry smile.

Stanford snorted. “Considering the same can be said about myself?” He hummed. “Not so much.”

Agura shook her head and yawned, resting her cheek on her arms again.

“You should sleep,” said Stanford.

Agura sighed. “Probably,” she agreed, lips pressed together. “I still don’t know what to think of Viv, Stanford. I don’t know if we can trust her.” She lifted her head and tugged at a few of her dreadlocks. “I want to, just like we did with Tezz, but…” She shook her head. “There’s something she’s hiding. Something big. And I want to think that maybe it’s not a big deal, but…”

“But your gut says otherwise,” finished Stanford. He didn’t have that sort of instinct for people. It had fucked him over time and time again, but he thought it must have been a born ability, not a gained one. If Agura was worried, then Stanford was as well. And, if she was right about Vert, which she probably was, then Vert was worried as well, which made Stanford even _more_ worried.

Slowly, Agura pushed herself to her feet and rubbed at her eyes. “Yeah, something like that.” She yawned again, loudly and with the back of her hand pressed to her mouth. “Good night, Stanford. Sweet dreams.”

“And you as well, love,” said Stanford. He watched her go, then turned back toward the stars, frowning.

Perhaps Viv _was_ hiding something. But weren’t they all, in some fashion or another? Perhaps her secret was simply in the same realm as any other on the team. His own hatred of his past self, Zoom and Vert’s hiding of their romantic feelings from themselves and one another for quite some time, Spinner’s hiding of his transgender identity from the team for so long. They were secrets that had come in time, when trust had been gained.

Surely, Viv deserved the same discretion and space that they all had. But then, Viv had tried to kill them, and the rest had not. Even Tezz, who had simply taken them prisoner, had not gone so far.

With a quiet sigh, Stanford pushed himself to his feet.

All this thinking made his brain hurt. He needed sleep.

Or maybe a drink.

Or seven.

~*~*~

It was long past time for him to be asleep, but, despite that, Tezz found himself, instead, in the kitchen of the place he’d come to call home, sipping at a hot chocolate that wasn’t nearly as good as the ones AJ always made. There was something missing, not that Tezz had a clue what it might be.

Regardless, he kept sipping at his hot chocolate, staring, not quite blankly, out the window that showcased the distant, tiny lights of the town.

Despite his exhaustion, despite what he’d faced today, despite the danger, the relief, and more, he could not sleep. No, instead he was trapped in a spiralling train of thoughts that turned over Viv’s every action, every movement, every word.

He was far from an expert in human communication, especially through a language barrier and after a decade of isolation, but still he tried. If Vert was concerned about Viv’s possible villainy, then Tezz would do his utmost to uncover what, precisely, she was hiding.

Fear made people dangerous. Tezz knew that much. If his friends feared Viv and if Viv feared his friends, then it could only end in disaster.

Still, he wanted to believe she was just what she appeared to be: a lost, unsure, and isolated young woman who knew little about where she was, why she was there, and if she could trust those around her. Tezz knew how that felt. He’d been in the same position, months prior, and while he’d not reacted as strongly, he also had never been prone to extreme reactions.

Something common in those with аутизам, he knew. A word which he’d yet to bother translating to English. Perhaps the others would know what it meant. Tezz simply hadn’t bothered, yet.

“Tezz?” The voice, confused and pitched as it was, belonged to Spinner, who stumbled out of the shadows and yawned as he approached Tezz. “Isn’t it kind of late?”

Tezz glanced at the digital read-out on the oven. _2:05AM_ it read.

“Perhaps,” he conceded. “Though that does not excuse your wakefulness, either.”

Spinner shrugged and stretched his arms above his head, yawning. Without his hair gel, his hair hung loose and around his shoulders, framing his face and softening its angles. It was a strange look, almost vulnerable, in a way.

“Had to pee,” said Spinner, shrugging. He hopped up onto the counter and let his legs dangle, propping his elbows on his legs and his chin in his hands. “So, what’re you doing up so late? Brooding?”

Tezz sighed and flipped his bangs out of his eyes. “Something to that effect,” he said, with a touch of hesitation. “I am… concerned.”

“About Viv?” guessed Spinner, cocking his head to one side. Tezz nodded. “I mean, Vert cleared her, didn’t he?” asked Spinner.

Tezz frowned and glanced away. He’d never been a good liar.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” said Spinner. He leaned back on the counter, pressing his hands into it, and gave a huff. “He let her off way too easily.” He shrugged. “Well, whatever he’s got planned, I trust him. If Viv is dangerous, Vert’ll handle her.”

Tezz set down his mug and folded his arms loosely across his chest. “You put a lot of faith in him.”

“So do you,” said Spinner, giving Tezz a flat look.

Tezz opened his mouth to protest, frowned, and closed it again, saying nothing.

“See?” said Spinner, grinning. “You trust him too. We all do. He hasn’t let us down yet.”

“Do you think he will?” asked Tezz. It was a question that haunted him many nights in the garage. The question of whether or not Vert was infallible, untouchable, fearless, just as the others saw him. He recognized very little in the emotional spectrum by glance, but he saw cracks from time to time. Saw the way Zoom reacted to him in ways no one else did.

Was that love? Being able to read someone better than anyone else? Knowing someone better than they knew themselves? Or was it blind faith, trust, and hope in that person?

Tezz did not know. Vert was like family to him. A brother, a friend, a leader all in one. But he could not read him, not easily, and he wondered if Zoom was the only one who could. And what they hid, behind their easy jokes and smiles, when things became terrifying and difficult.

Corona and Viv, he felt, were only the start of change in the multiverse. Something deep inside him, terrified and hungry all at once, felt that, _knew_ that.

Finding Corona, Tezz knew in his gut, was only the start. And that feeling, unfounded as it was, terrified him more than anything else.

“No,” said Spinner. He tipped his head to one side. “I mean, maybe back at the start, I would have said maybe, but after Rawkus, and after everything else, I don’t think it’s really in Vert to ever, you know, let us down. He tries too hard, ya know? He might not always tell us everything, but I trust him with my life, Tezz. And everyone else does too.” Spinner frowned. “I’m not sure what to think of Viv, but I’ve got faith in Vert. He’ll figure it out. He always does.”

Tezz nodded, silent and thoughtful.

“He is quite the captain,” said Tezz, leaning more heavily against the counter. Exhaustion clung to him like a cloak, dragging him down as if it was a physical weight. “I trust his judgement.”

Spinner gave him a thumb’s up and hopped off the counter. “See? All’s good, dude. Now come on, let’s go to bed.” He clapped Tezz on the arm and smiled at him. “Everything’ll be fine.”

As Spinner left the room, Tezz sighed, shaking his head. Vert was smart. More than that, he was experienced. He understood people in a way that Tezz never had and probably never would.

Tezz shook it off and headed back toward the room he and AJ shared. As he opened the door, he heard AJ’s soft snores, half covered by the constant hum of the AC unit in the window. Tezz padded across the room and slipped under the blanket of his own bed, which rested on the opposite wall of AJ’s.

“Tezz?” AJ’s voice was a low murmur, thick with sleep. “You okay?”

“Yes,” said Tezz, settling into bed. “Go to sleep, AJ.”

“M’kay,” said AJ, yawning. “Night buddy.”

“Goodnight.” Tezz stared up at the ceiling for some time after AJ’s snores resumed, running over everything in his mind. He wanted to trust Viv, truly. She was, perhaps, the only person in the world who understood what he’d been through. If there was time, trust, perhaps the two could talk about what they’d seen, how they’d survived, and how they struggled to adapt back to life on earth.

But that was only if Viv wasn’t hiding something dangerous. Only if Viv wasn’t a danger to the team. Only if Viv was worth trusting, worth saving, worth keeping around.

Worth putting their lives on the line for.

And that was something Tezz couldn’t possibly grasp on his own, not without more data, and not without the team.

He only hoped their gamble in bringing Viv to earth would pay off.

~*~*~

It was a heartbeat, steady in its pulsating and familiar beneath her fingertips. It was a song, rhythmic and echoing as it tantalized her senses. It was the first glow of the sun over the horizon, the laughter of children of a thousand different races, the songs of the elders as the Council of Five unified the world.

It was the screaming of the lost, it was the shattering of ancient crystals as they fell and crashed all around. It was fire, it was smoke, it was terror, it was hunger.

It was fear.

It was _Kero._

They were _alive._ And that lost signal, echoing from the same prison the Battle Force 5 had found Viv within, pulsated steadily on Corona’s holoscreens, begging for help as Kero’s signal grew fainter by the hour.

Frozen. Lost. Alone. But alive. Stable. Possibly saveable.

And as Corona stared at the signal, all she could think, despite knowledge, despite logic, despite reason, was that she wanted to save them.

No matter what it took, she wanted to save them.

Just like they had done for her.

She cast a glance toward the Mobi, where Sage was deep within herself to meditate and recharge, and, steeling herself, Corona reached out and triggered the silent Hub alarm to awaken Battle Force 5.

Whatever it took, she was saving Kero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are cool beans


	9. The Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D

The silent Hub alarm was one that only rang through the wrist comms, and its insistent buzzing and flashing woke the Battle Force 5 one after the other. Agura, groggy and sleep deprived, snatched up her comm and strapped it on, cursing when the lights flashed across her eyes and temporarily blinded her.

“What’s going on?” murmured Viv, pushing herself upright in the makeshift camp bed that had been set up for her.

“Emergency,” said Agura. She grabbed the scattered pieces of her shock suit and shoved them on. The top half, then the bottom, then the boots, then the gloves. Quickly, efficiently, and without fuss. Practiced a thousand times. She cast a look at Viv, who was already pushing herself out of bed and reaching for her chair. “Want a lift?” asked Agura.

“Please,” said Viv. Agura helped her swing into her chair and grabbed the back, pushing her toward the stairs. On the way, they met up with Sherman, who swung Viv into his arms to help her down the stairs, and Spinner, who grumbled as he styled his hair up into its customary spikey style.

Tezz was fully dressed but missing his gloves. AJ was shoving on his gloves as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Vert and Zoom came together, tugging the pieces of their uniforms in place. Zoom was barefoot, his boots under one arm and his shins bruised and bare as he hopped to try and put on one of his boots.

The only person missing was Stanford, who joined them as the group, grumbling and exhausted as they were, as they hopped onto the elevator to head down into the Hub.

The sight that greeted them wasn’t one Agura expected. Sage was nowhere to be found and, instead, Corona floated in front of screens that showed off what Agura _thought_ was the battle zone they’d found Viv in not twenty-four hours prior.

“Greetings,” said Corona. “Thank you for your haste. I have an important mission for all of you.”

“Woah, woah,” said Stanford, rubbing at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “You’re not the mission control we’re used to.”

Corona gave a serene smile that didn’t strike Agura as sincere. “Sage is currently deep in a meditative rest. However, we agreed that whoever was awake should be the one to brief you on this mission.” She called up the screens, making them larger and brighter. “The interference on the previous zone has lowered enough to allow you access. The energy signature is growing fainter and must be identified before our enemies.”

Formal language, stiff body language. A product of her stasis? Of Sentient culture? Or something else? Agura could smell something fishy. She was acting differently than she had been when they’d first brought her back, and different even from how she’d been before they’d gone to sleep. Coupled with Sage being absent and apparently unaware of what was going on, and Agura couldn’t shake the feeling that Corona was pulling something _strange._

She hoped Vert thought the same thing. But he seemed pretty exhausted and pretty out of it. Probably still keeping an eye on Zoom.

Thankfully, Sage had given Zoom something before they’d all gone to bed so that he’d be okay when he woke up. He looked a little bleary, but back to normal, otherwise.

At least that was _one_ good thing about all this weirdness.

“All right,” said Vert, rubbing at his face. “Strap the key to the Saber and let’s get going.” He paused and cast a glance at all of them. “Tezz, Stanford, I want you both on this one. Zoom, you good?” He gave a thumb’s up. “Right. Okay. Sherman, Spinner, AJ, you stay here. Viv, you wanna mount up in the Splitwire?” he asked.

Tezz stiffened. Agura frowned. Viv nodded.

“Sure thing, boss man,” she said, winking. She wheeled herself over to the Splitwire and leaned back in her chair. “Let’s roll!”

As the others all split off to their vehicles, Agura grabbed Vert’s arm and tugged him to the side, casting a look over her shoulder to look at Corona, who was taking the key over to the Splitwire.

“Something’s up with her,” said Agura.

Vert nodded, letting out a quiet huff. “Yeah, no kidding.” He combed his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “Whatever’s going on, I’m sure Viv knows enough about the zone.”

“And if Viv isn’t one of the good guys?” asked Agura, her voice low and her arms folded across her chest. She raised one eyebrow, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“Then we cross that bridge when we come to it,” said Vert. “Sherman and Tezz can work on both sides of the mission to keep us connected. If something happens, we’ll have back-up.”

Agura let out a quiet sigh. “Vert, if something’s happened to Corona…” She trailed off, but by the look in Vert’s eyes, she didn’t have to continue.

“I know,” said Vert, softly. “Fuck, I know.” He clapped her on the shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.” With that, he strode toward the Saber, swinging into it and letting the pod close. Agura took a deep breath and climbed into the Tangler, tugging at her dreadlocks to ensure the ponytail was secure.

This couldn’t _possibly_ end well.

~*~*~

Like the blooming of a flower in early summer heat, the battle zone from which they’d stolen Viv had transformed in a massive way since their last visit, all stemming from the destroyed tower at the centre of the zone. It reminded Vert of his environmental science class in high school: the centre of a flower exploding outward with its pollen to create an epic field of like-flowers. And in the middle of that field stood the tallest, grandest, and oldest of the flowers: the one that started it all.

The destruction of the central tower had created a chain reaction throughout the zone. Collapsed buildings, destroyed circuitry, burn marks and craters. All of it a mark of destruction, of chaos, and of pain.

Vert swallowed hard as he stared at it all. If they hadn’t grabbed Viv when they had, there was no way she would have survived.

“All right, the signal is in the south-east end of the zone,” said Vert, his voice loud and clear through the comms, a contrast to his roiling thoughts and confusion about the team’s current state. “Spread out, grid style. Let’s find this signal.”

“And let’s hope it’s _not_ something that’s going to try and kill us this time,” drawled Stanford. A short huff from the Splitwire, Viv’s only reaction, seemed to echo in Vert’s ears. Strange, how that joke had been funny the night before, but wasn’t now that they were back in the zone.

Something else to think about. Something else to worry about.

Maybe bringing Viv into this zone had been a bad idea, especially considering what had happened between her and Tezz in this zone. Then again, this would be a good opportunity to find out if she _was_ a traitor.

If she was, Vert only hoped Tezz would be able to handle her. Or else forgive _him_ for whatever came next.

Bit by bit, the Battle Force 5, and Viv, worked their way through the zone, calling out what they saw. Without Spinner or AJ, there was a large gap in the conversations. Spinner’s humour and sarcasm usually made a difference in awkward and terrifying zones, while AJ’s boundless enthusiasm could solve just about everything else. Without them, or Sherman, the team was silent.

Vert, Tezz, and Agura based on their own trepidation regarding the zone and Viv. Zoom because he felt the tension. Stanford because he was listening to music. Viv for whatever reasons she had.

“The signal is getting stronger,” said Tezz, over the comms.

Vert took a breath. Right, show time then.

“Lead the way,” said Vert. Tezz gave a noise of agreement and took point, guiding BF5 through the wreckage of the battle zone.

The deeper they went and the further they moved from the fallen tower where they’d faced Viv, the battle zone seemed to change. Broad prisons and generalized holding cells began more specific, and weaponry and defensive buildings grew more and more common.

Vert found himself squinting at the buildings they passed, trying to unravel what they must have been for, once. No one offered suggestions over the comms, the tension drawing the radio static into something severe and monstrous in Vert’s ears. He sighed, quiet and frustrated, at the silence and at the noise, simultaneously.

Too many secrets beneath the surface, all threatening to bubble up at once. One wrong word, one out of place gesture, and it would all come crashing down, swallowing the team whole.

But then, in the distance, outside themselves and their problems, Vert saw something.

A light, soft and glowing, but warm all the same, and eerily familiar in a way he didn’t want to put words to.

“That’s…” Stanford’s voice fell off before he could finish what he was saying.

“A Sentient stasis pod,” finished Agura. Vert could hear the horror, the fear, the lingered in her voice. Was this what Corona had seen? Was she working with Krytus? Was this another of Krytus’ allies? Or was this something else entirely?

He had no idea.

“You mean like the ones the rest of the Reds were in?” asked Zoom, throwing a look to Vert, his eyes wide and alert behind his helmet. Vert swallowed and nodded to Zoom, hoping to calm the fear before it spread through the team.

“This must be what we’re after,” said Vert. He reached out and locked the comms to zone only, switching them to one-way so that the Hub could talk to them, but they couldn’t talk to the Hub. The only one who seemed to notice was Zoom, who cocked his head in question. Vert pressed his lips together and nodded to him once more, hoping that his eyes could convey what words currently could not.

He had no idea of knowing if Corona knew what he’d done, if she was listening in, or waiting, just out of sight. He couldn’t risk explaining it all now. He had to wait until they were back on Earth and away from Sentient tech and influence.

Assuming they got that far.

“Let’s check it out,” said Vert. He led the way, leaving no room for argument in his tone or his movements. If he showed weakness now, and Viv _was_ a traitor, then he’d be putting the team at extreme risk. And, the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed that Viv and Corona had appeared in the same day, both lost and found in the smallest, strangest of coincidences. To have them both be found after so long, and at the same, relative, time? Something had to be up.

There were no coincidences in the multi-verse, not in Vert’s experience. But there were also no impossibilities, as Rawkus was fond of reminding him. Vert wasn’t sure what to believe at the moment: his own experience and gut, or an ancient rock monster who sometimes called “time out” on time itself.

Hard call to make.

As the group rode up on the stasis pod, Vert sucked in a breath. It was a Red Sentient, exactly what he and Tezz had feared.

Vert climbed out of the Saber, sword at his side, and approached the pod slowly. The others stepped out of their vehicles, but Vert gestured for them to wait, his chest tight with a breath he couldn’t seem to release.

The Red Sentient wasn’t one Vert had ever seen in the archives. A spiked head, like Kyburi’s, but shorter and sharper, scars that cut into their shell but didn’t crack or break it, something that Vert hadn’t thought possible.

But it was their lines that drew Vert’s attention, the bold black and red markings that shifted the Sentient into something sharper, harsher, than even Kyburi or Kytren. Something on par with Krytus himself.

Vert swallowed and took a step back. But he stumbled, and he tripped, and he fell forward and—

His hand hit the pod, it hissed and slid open, and Vert hit the ground.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck._

Red feet, red legs, red, red, red. The team too far away. Sharp claws and sharp, golden eyes that found Vert like he was nothing but a mouse, but prey.

And the creature hauled him to his feet with a hand around his throat, snarling, and Vert kicked and screamed as his vision spotted, his throat closed, and he realized, with a sort of detached frustration, that it seemed _every fucking person he found_ kept trying to kill him.

Well _fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


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